Wolves are back in Carabao Cup action tomorrow night against Chelsea at Molineux – and one admission Enzo Maresca made is bound to have caught Vitor Pereira’s attention.
Wanderers have the chance to bounce back from Sunday’s dismal defeat to Burnley in the Premier League.
Wolves lost 3-2 against the Clarets, and there were some sour scenes in front of the South Bank after the final whistle.
Many fans are now looking for Pereira to be sacked after the defeat to Burnley, and especially seeing what happened after the game.
Some feel his position has become untenable. However, it appears the Wolves board are set to give Pereira a bit more time to turn things around.
And tomorrow, there might just be an outside chance of victory against the Blues.
- READ MORE: Predicted Wolves XI to face Chelsea in the Carabao Cup with Jorgen Strand Larsen decision made
Enzo Maresca planning to rotate against Wolves
It has been a nightmare start to the new season for Wolves in the Premier League, but the team has fared better in the Carabao Cup.
In the second round, Wolves came from behind to beat West Ham United 3-2 to win at Molineux.
Then, Wolves defeated Everton 2-0 at Molineux in the third round.
Chelsea will be the toughest test yet, but there could be an opportunity for Wolves and the under-fire Vitor Pereira.
Because at his press conference today, Enzo Maresca confirmed that he will be rotating his side, suggesting some of his top stars will ‘probably’ not play.
He said: “We need to rotate. We need to protect players. Because if we go with the same XI, we’re going to struggle during the season. We need to rotate. And probably we’re going to make some changes, I don’t know how many, but we’re going to make some changes.
“I don’t know yet. For sure we’re going to make some changes. I don’t know now if we’ll make nine or 10 like we did between Forest and Ajax. But for sure we’re going to make changes again.”
A reporter then asked if this was a chance for Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and Joao Pedro to be rested, to which the Italian replied: “Yeah probably. They are players who need to be protected for many reasons so probably tomorrow, we’ll see. Enzo, Moises and Joao, they are players that, for different reasons, we need to protect them.”
Pereira badly needs a win over Chelsea
Maresca is clearly planning to make some changes to his squad and this will be music to Pereira’s ears.
He himself will probably have to make some changes to his Wolves team to keep people fresh, but given Maresca’s admission, there is surely an outside opportunity here for the Old Gold.
That said, if Wolves do lose the game, it still feels unlikely that Pereira will lose his job – purely because it’s then a quick turnaround to the Fulham game.
If Pereira loses both games this week, that will surely be curtains for him as head coach.