Wolves face Crystal Palace this evening – and it’s another chance to take a big step towards safety.
Wanderers tripped up at the weekend against Leicester City.
Having gone 1-0 up through Matheus Cunha, many fans started to think about a third consecutive win and moving onto 37 points.
But Jose Sa’s rash challenge on Jamie Vardy allowed the Foxes to get back into the game – Kelechi Iheanacho scoring from the spot.
Timothy Castagne then added a second for the hosts in the second-half.
And Wolves then couldn’t break Leicester down, in a performance we have seen many times in recent months.
Wolves losing Mario Lemina at half-time was a big blow. His energy and tenacity was really missed in the second-half.
Thankfully, his hamstring injury is not serious according to Lopetegui. There’s a chance he could play tonight – he is being assessed this morning.
Palace have taken 10 points since Roy Hodgson replaced Patrick Vieira.
They are practically safe now, but will want to make absolutely sure they are, and push Wolves down into the mix in the process.
It could be a very tight game, and pundit Paul Merson reckons there will be nothing to separate the two sides.
Predicting a 2-2 draw, he said (Sportskeeda): “I watched Wolves the other day and they should have defeated Leicester. They sat back and didn’t have too many ideas – they did go up with a goal but lost the game in the end.
“I think there will be goals in this game, and I don’t think Wolves are going to sit back. The team that wins this game could be out of trouble in the relegation battle. I don’t see either of these teams getting relegated this season.”
A draw vs Crystal Palace wouldn’t be great for Wolves – Lopetegui’s side need to remove the doubts
Wolves could do with winning this game after the defeat to Leicester.
Wanderers may be six points clear of the drop zone. But it doesn’t feel totally comfortable.
Wolves just need to come out flying against the Eagles and put in their best performance of the season. Molineux will no doubt be rocking to hopefully lift the players right from the off.
The goal should be to get this game won convincingly to remove those lingering doubts.
37 points with five games left to play would surely mean no more worries about going down.