Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa played out a rather exciting 2-1 encounter in the Carabao Cup in midweek, and although Nuno Espirito Santo’s men will feel hard done by, it was the Villans that secured progression into the quarter-final stage of the EFL Cup. The Portuguese manager set up with a second-string squad against the Villans, putting a lot of faith on his younger players.
In their last Premier League clash against Newcastle United, despite a rather spirited performance from Wolves, they were only able to secure a point from their visit to St.James’ Park. Considering that Arsenal are coming into this tie on the back of a disappointing defeat at Liverpool in the league cup, we can expect the Gunners to find it difficult to break Wolves down.
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Although Ryan Bennett was a doubt for the game against Aston Villa on Wednesday, he turned out to be fit enough to start. He played the whole 90 minutes, coming as a massive boost to Nuno’s defensive concerns.
Morgan Gibbs-White is still recovering from a lower back problem. Even though he could be in contention, Nuno probably wouldn’t need to play him anyway. Willy Boly remains Wolves’ biggest miss, having only just undergone surgery on his ankle. With screws and a metal plate embedded into his leg, we can expect the Frenchman to be out for a long time.
Formation: 3-5-2
Defence
Rui Patricio was rested in midweek and is expected to make his return to the starting lineup. In front of him, the familiar faces of Conor Coady and Romain Saïss could be joined by Ryan Bennett, who has just returned from injury. Although Matt Doherty was being utilised in the centre-half position, the return of Bennett will allow the Irishman to return to his preferred full-back role.
Midfield
As discussed earlier, Matt Doherty is expected to advance into the right wing-back position, with Jonny Castro operating on the left side of the midfield. The pair have undoubtedly been Wolves’ biggest attacking threat, making bombarding runs down the flank at regular intervals. They know how to cross a mean ball as well, allowing the likes of Raul Jimenez and Diogo Jota to really prosper up top.
In the middle of the park, Ruben Neves will continue his role as the midfield pivot, acting as the link between defence and attack. He will be supported on either side by fellow Portuguese veteran Joao Moutinho and Belgian star Leander Dendoncker, who together, make quite a versatile midfield trio.
Attack
Both Raul Jimenez and Diogo Jota were omitted from the matchday squad for Wolves’ visit to Villa Park, meaning that they’re both expected to return to the lineup on Saturday. Although Patrick Cutrone did a decent job leading the line in midweek, the former Serie A star could drop to the bench to accommodate the set strike-duo.
