Wolves edged out Burnley at Molineux – and there is one player who has probably now put Gary O’Neil in a tricky position.
Hwang Hee-chan scored his eighth Premier League goal of the season, striking just before half-time after good work by Wolves forcing a mistake.
Sander Berge was put under pressure by Mario Lemina, with the ball popping to Pablo Sarabia who found Matheus Cunha. Cunha moved the ball on to the unmarked Hwang, who steadied himself before finishing clinically.
It was another great goal, from a player who is in the form of his life.
There is also another player coming in for quite a few plaudits – and that is Dan Bentley…
Dan Bentley will have given Gary O’Neil a selection headache ahead of Nottingham Forest clash
Bentley featured last night after Jose Sa failed to fully shake off the injury he picked up against Arsenal.
Gary O’Neil had said in his press conference that he hoped that Sa would be OK to play, but in the end the game came just a bit too soon for the Portuguese stopper. After the win over Burnley, O’Neil said that was ‘close’ to playing, but he just didn’t quite feel 100%.
So in came Bentley, and the 30-year-old stepped up to the plate.
His double save in the first-half from Jay Rodriguez and then Josh Brownhill was absolutely superb.
He was cat-like in the way he got back up off the ground from the first save to deny Brownhill scoring a volley into the bottom corner.
The midfielder’s strike took a slight deflection on the way through, forcing Bentley to get down at full stretch.
Just moments later, Hwang scored Wolves’ goal.
Bentley didn’t have a great deal to do against the Clarets aside from those two saves.
But he also put in a solid performance against Arsenal, not conceding after he had replaced the injured Sa.
So perhaps O’Neil is now in a tricky spot, because how do you drop a goalkeeper who has answered the call to arms in the way Bentley has?
Sa is the better goalkeeper, but £10,000-a-week star Bentley wouldn’t really deserve to lose his starting berth based on what he’s shown since coming in, and what kind of message would O’Neil be sending out by bringing Sa straight back in?
Bentley has always maintained that he’s at Wolves to play and not just be Sa’s backup. He genuinely wants regular minutes and, as he said after yesterday’s game: “I’m always prepped to play. That’s my ethos and the way I do things. I work my backside off in training, I do everything I can to push Jose and create an environment where we are pushing each other. Of course, I want to play.”
It will certainly be interesting to see what O’Neil does, with Sa expected to be available for selection again.
We have seen O’Neil show loyalty to Toti Gomes for consistent performances, so maybe Bentley is in with a chance to keep his place.