It’s a huge clash in the Premier League this weekend as Wolves travel to high-flyers Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.
Wolves lost 2-1 to Liverpool last time out but could take encouragement from their second-half display as they restricted the Reds to zero shots on goal.
The Wanderers remain two points above the bottom three and will be pleased that Leicester were thrashed 4-0 on home turf by Brentford.
That being said, Vitor Pereira’s men can’t rely on results around them to survive and they must use their excellent record against Bournemouth as confidence to beat the fifth-place Cherries.
Sadly, Pereira was dealt bad news ahead of the clash, confirming that centre-back Emmanuel Agbadou is injured for the next few matches, and it wasn’t the only disappointing development.
Stuart Attwell named on VAR for Bournemouth vs Wolves
The Premier League announced the officials for matchday 26 earlier this week. Michael Salisbury is the referee for Wolves clash against Bournemouth while Stuart Attwell was named on VAR.
The appointment of Attwell, in particular, will have piqued the interest of Wolves fans. He’s taken charge of more Wanderers games than any other club.
Wolves have won 12, drawn seven and lost 11 matches he’s officiated while dishing out 65 yellow cards and five red cards – the most of any club.
More alarmingly, supporters will remember the 42-year-old most for one controversial error he made in this exact fixture last season.
Attwell wrongfully disallowed Hwang Hee-chan’s goal vs Bournemouth
In April 2024, Wolves lost 1-0 against Bournemouth at Molineux. It was one of several poor performances under Gary O’Neil however, the hosts should have taken a point away from the match.
Nelson Semedo’s wonderful cross was met by the head of Hwang Hee-chan, who rose highest to plant his header past Mark Travers.
From the naked eye, it looked like a perfectly well-worked goal. But according to VAR, Matheus Cunha’s foul on Justin Kluivert in the build-up was seen as a clear and obvious error.
Hwang’s goal against Bournemouth was disallowed, much to the anger of Wolves fans, with many claiming ‘VAR is ruining football’.
O’Neil did share sympathy with Attwell for deciding the goal shouldn’t stand after being called over to the monitor, and that was a surprising reaction considering how huge the game was.
Wolves needed all the points they could get to survive and luckily, this decision didn’t cost them their place in the top-flight.