Julen Lopetegui praised Raul Jimenez following his influential performance for Wolves against Fulham.
The striker was back in the starting XI after spending the past few games on the bench.
Jimenez had not started a Premier League game since the game with Manchester City a month ago. In that match, he was substituted at half-time, along with Hwang Hee-chan and Adama Traore.
Lopetegui is still searching for a combination that will yield goals more regularly.
Against Fulham, he decided to go with Jimenez and Matheus Cunha together.
And they did work well together, and Jimenez arguably put in his most impactful display in Wolves colours for some time.
And his performance led to praise from Lopetegui after the game. He said (Express & Star): “Raul has worked in a very good way. He has played with Cunha sometimes, and sometimes with Matheus Nunes.
“We changed in the match and in the end he played a good match. We are happy with him, it was good for him and good for us. But the most important thing is not Raul, it’s Diego (Costa), it’s Cunha and the team.”
Jimenez’s biggest contribution was setting up Pablo Sarabia for his first Wolves goal.
He got underneath a cross from Nunes, heading the ball smartly back to the former Paris Saint-Germain star. Sarabia made no mistake with the finish.
Sadly, Wolves were unable to add to that goal. And in the second-half, a brilliant strike by Manor Solomon brought the hosts level.
Raul Jimenez’s performance was one of the biggest positives against Fulham
Jimenez put in a brilliant performance against Fulham, which was highly encouraging to see.
We know he’s not the same player as a few years ago.
But he is still capable of producing for Wolves and is the best option to lead the line.
It remains to be seen how long Cunha will be out for. But Jimenez showed against Fulham that he should be the first port of call to replace the Brazilian if he’s going to be unavailable.