Wolves will again look to get their first win of the Premier League season this weekend – and there was an encouraging sight at Compton Park this week leading up to the game.
Vitor Pereira is determined to get that elusive first victory, having come agonisingly close in the last two matches.
Wolves ultimately only drew with Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton, but the performances were much better overall compared to the first few outings this term.
Pereira feels his players have grown in confidence over the last few matches, and hopefully they can finally get the job done this weekend and win for the first time.
But Wolves’ recent record at the Stadium of Light isn’t great, having won just one of the last 10 meetings there.
It will take a big effort, to beat a side clearly loving life back in the Premier League.
As ever, Pereira’s teamsheet will be fascinating – and one wonders if there might be a place in the squad for Matt Doherty.
Matt Doherty back in training for Wolves after surgery
Doherty did not feature for the Republic of Ireland over the international break, because he underwent surgery on a wrist fracture.
Doc sustained damage to his scaphoid against Bournemouth on August 23, and played the following games with a protective splint.
He was operated on on October 6, and Phil Hayward – the club’s director of high performance – recently said of Doherty’s recovery: “He’s desperate to get back, but obviously, we need to respect the fact that he’s had surgery. In addition to actually repairing the bone, there’s also a lot of other associated inflammation around that area from the surgery itself, so we need to wait for that to settle down. There’s obviously some healing which needs to be done on the skin surface as well.
“We need to get past this early stage then we can start to really push him again. If he does fall on it and cause himself a complication with the surgery, it’s quite a difficult one to undo afterwards, so we have to be careful and respect the advice from the surgeon.
“He should be absolutely fine. The success rate of these surgeries is very, very high, and he should be back training pretty quickly. We can get him going fairly soon with non-contact training and doing things on the grass which don’t involve a risk of him falling to maintain his fitness levels while the bone heals. Then as soon as he’s ready to go back into competition again and take full contact, he should be good to go and back at the level of fitness that he was at when he when he came out of the team.”
Four days after the surgery, Doherty was doing individual gym work at Compton.
It seems Doherty’s recovery has been going well. Yesterday, Wolves released a video clip of a training session at Compton, and the 33-year-old can be seen participating in a small-sided game, sporting a red cast.
It remains to be seen though whether this points to potential involvement on Saturday at the Stadium of Light.
Wolves need Doherty back
It is a welcome sight to see Doherty training again, and to see him participating in a small-sided game that involves contact is surely a good sign.
Pereira has his press conference tomorrow and will likely give an update on the player’s condition there.
It would be great if he could be ready to face Sunderland, although that game may just come slightly too soon.
But clearly, Doherty is not facing a long time on the sidelines which is a positive.
With Jackson Tchatchoua still yet to really find his feet, Doherty is a solid option for Pereira to play at right-back.