Gary O’Neil should throw one of his Wolves stars back into the starting XI against Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.
Wolves saw their seven-match unbeaten run come to an end in their 4-3 loss against Manchester United on Thursday night.
Less than 72 hours later, the Wanderers are back in Premier League action once more as they travel to Stamford Bridge looking to do the league double over Chelsea for the first time since the 1974/75 season.
With the fast turnaround and some potentially tired legs, Gary O’Neil could look to make a few changes to his side.
One of those could be throwing Rayan Ait-Nouri back into the starting XI in place of Matt Doherty at left-wing back while Santiago Bueno could get his chance ahead of Toti Gomes.
Another alteration that O’Neil could facilitate is replacing Tommy Doyle for Joao Gomes.
Doyle has been immense since the Brazilian was suspended for three matches against Brentford
He was even hailed as ‘the best player on the park’ by Chris Waddle in the 2-0 victory over West Brom in the FA Cup.
As a result, calls to drop him probably seem harsh, but given the quick turnaround and how good Gomes was alongside Mario Lemina before his suspension, the Wolves boss could choose to start him over Doyle against Chelsea.
Why Joao Gomes should start over Tommy Doyle against Chelsea
Doyle is known for his ability to split the lines with his passing range and keep play ticking over in midfield.
On the other hand, Gomes is a midfielder who will run through the opposition, aggressively winning possession back for his team while forming an impenetrable barrier alongside Lemina.
In a match where Chelsea will expect to dominate the ball and Wolves will play on the counter-attack, the attributes of the 22-year-old, who was hailed as a ‘super talent‘ by O’Neil, are better suited to this match than the Manchester City loanee.
After all, Gomes is averaging more tackles per game (3.1/0.9), interceptions (0.6/0.5), balls recovered (5.6/3.4) and total duels won (5.6/1.1) than Doyle, as per Sofascore.
It’s the ball-winning attributes against the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo that can disrupt the hosts’ rhythm while giving the Wanderers a platform to counter-attack.
Suggestions to drop Doyle aren’t born from his recent form by any stretch of the imagination. He’s been brilliant for Wolves and took his chance in the absence of Gomes.
For tactical reasons, though, the Brazilian could be better suited to this type of match and should therefore start against the Blues.