Wolves go to the Stadium of Light on Saturday, looking to get their first win of the season against Sunderland.
Wanderers have come close in each of the last two games against Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton, but couldn’t quite close those matches out.
Vitor Pereira has been encouraged by what he has seen, as have fans. Certainly, there have been big improvements from the first few weeks of the season.
And those improvements have mainly been down to a system change.
Pereira has set Wolves up with a back four for the past three games now, and that has seen the team become more solid – with Ladislav Krejci and Santiago Bueno shining at the back.
Fans have urged Pereira to stop using a back five altogether, and we will see if he resists against Sunderland.
For Dave Edwards though, the plan should be clear.
Dave Edwards urges Wolves to be ‘pragmatic’ against Sunderland in order to quieten home crowd
This will be far from an easy game for Wolves.
Sunderland have made a bright start to the season, and several of their new signings have hit the ground running straight away.
They will feel that Wolves represent a big chance for three points, especially with the game being at the Stadium of Light.
Dave Edwards has previewed the clash in his latest E&S column, and reckons Wolves need to be adopting a more pragmatic approach in order to stifle the crowd.
He said: “Being away at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, I believe Wolves can afford to be a bit more pragmatic. They don’t need to be the team on the front foot, trying to win from the start. It is all about quieting the crowd, keeping the ball as much as they can to frustrate them.
“Wolves have shown in recent games what a threat they can be on the counter attack.
“If we do go 1-0 up, that is where things need to change a little bit. Wolves will need to be a bit braver and not just sit on that lead, to try and get the second goal and really kill the game off.”
- READ MORE: Vitor Pereira sends new message to Wolves fans on Instagram after two points from seven games
Wolves can’t let Stadium of Light crowd into the game
It will be very important for Wolves to keep the home crowd from getting too lively on Saturday.
The visitors need to be good on the ball and as Edwards says, frustrate the Sunderland players and in turn, the fans.
Wolves must then pick the right moments to counter-attack. And they need to be much more clinical when the chances come – currently, Wolves have the lowest xG of all 20 Premier League teams.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 15 |  LeedsLeeds | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 8 |
| 16 |  BrentfordBrentford | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 7 |
| 17 |  Nottingham ForestNottingham Forest | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 5 |
| 18 |  BurnleyBurnley | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 15 | -8 | 4 |
| 19 |  West HamWest Ham | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 16 | -10 | 4 |
| 20 |  WolvesWolves | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 14 | -9 | 2 |
It will be interesting to see if Wolves do take the lead what the approach will then be, because arguably it wasn’t right against Spurs and Brighton.
It would be great to see Pereira imploring his team to go for a second goal to kill the game, rather than defending and inviting unnecessary pressure.