A development involving Erling Haaland may be to the benefit of Wolves and Vitor Pereira ahead of next weekend’s huge game with Sunderland.
Wanderers will go in search of their first Premier League win of the season next Saturday, having failed in their previous seven attempts.
Wolves have come very close in the last two matches, but conceded late equalisers to Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton.
Encouragingly, Wolves are looking a lot better defensively, after Vitor Pereira started utilising a back four more with Santiago Bueno and Ladislav Krejci at the heart.
But Wolves have still had issues up top – and one man who’s had a frustrating start to the new season is Jorgen Strand Larsen.
But potentially, the Wolves number nine could have a chance to arrive at the Stadium of Light with a bit of momentum behind him.
Erling Haaland development could be good for Jorgen Strand Larsen
Norway are the talk of the town in terms of international football at the moment, having won all of their World Cup qualifiers so far.
Last night, they beat Israel 5-0, with Erling Haaland scoring a hat-trick and two Israel players putting through their own net.
Norway are now in a strong position in their group, sitting top on 18 points out of 18 – six ahead of Italy, who have a game in hand.
Next up for Stale Solbakken’s side is a friendly against New Zealand, and that will mean an opportunity for some fringe players.
And interestingly, Solbakken has confirmed that the red-hot Haaland will be returning to Manchester City now in order to rest up. He also said that Alexander Sorloth will go back to Atletico Madrid.
This potentially points to a start for Strand Larsen against New Zealand.
The Wolves star came off the bench against Israel and played for around 15 minutes, so there is a likelihood that he’ll get a lot more than that on Tuesday.
- READ MORE: Who is Jorgen Strand Larsen? Meet the Wolves striker who has been compared to Erling Haaland
Wolves need Strand Larsen to build momentum
It has not been the start to the new season that Strand Larsen would have hoped for, and his frustrations against Brighton were visible.
So far, the former Celta Vigo man has made seven appearances this term for a total of 492 minutes, scoring two goals in the Carabao Cup against West Ham United.
Strand Larsen has struggled to be influential in several games so far, which is far from ideal for Wolves after losing the likes of Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri.
Strand Larsen has also spoken of fitness issues which have not helped his cause.
But this friendly against New Zealand now offers a potential opportunity to build some momentum ahead of the crunch clash with Sunderland, with neither Haaland nor Sorloth available.
If he can play a decent chunk of that game, get on the scoresheet and return to Compton without any issues, then Pereira will surely be delighted.