MY ACCOUNT
Wolves will have to stop Fulham’s supply line to Aleksandar Mitrovic if they are to get off the zero-point mark at Molineux on Saturday.
The Serbian cut a contented figure as he left Craven Cottage after terrorising the Liverpool defence for 90 minutes last weekend, finishing with a brace.
Mitrovic scored 43 Championship goals last season, but his previous Premier League struggles had led to the narrative around him being one of questioning his top-flight credentials.
That can no longer be the case with Wolves boss Bruno Lage likely to have made marking Mitrovic out of the contest among his pre-match priorities.
And the fans at Molineux will need to raise an atmosphere akin to the one their favourites faced at Elland Road last weekend to give them a much-needed boost.
Team news
Having trained all week, Goncalo Guedes is available to make his Wolves debut and should be involved in some capacity.
But Lage has preferred to ease new recruits into his line-up in the past and may name the club’s £27.5million signing on the bench.
The Portuguese head coach would have named an unchanged side from Wolves’ last pre-season fixture at Leeds, but for an eleventh-hour injury to Joao Moutinho.
Unless the midfielder makes a miraculous return to fitness, Hee Chan Hwang is likely to keep his place in the same line-up from Elland Road last Saturday.
Barring any late injury issues, Silva is expected to keep faith with the same Fulham starting line-up that earned a 2-2 draw against Liverpool.
Harry Wilson will be out for around two months after suffering a knee injury during a behind-closed-doors friendly fixture with Aston Villa in late July.
Mitrovic will spearhead an attack consisting of Neeskens Kebano, Andreas Pereira and Bobby Decordova-Reid in supporting roles.
Kenny Tete should keep Kevin Mbabu waiting for his chance at right-back and new signing Issa Diop will probably be named on the bench after his recent switch from West Ham.
The stats
Mitrovic, who opened the scoring against Liverpool with a towering back-post header, scored the most headed goals in the Championship last season with 12 of his 43 coming in the air.
The striker’s shot conversion rate last season was 4.2 shots per goal scored, whereas so far this season it is just 1.5.
Wilson, who will be sorely missed while he recovers from injury, finished not only as Fulham’s top assist provider, but also the Championship’s with 19 last season.
Leander Dendoncker took three of Wolves’ 15 total shots at Leeds last weekend, hitting the target twice, and he was rarely reluctant to have a pop last season too.
During the 2021-22 campaign, the Belgian midfielder recorded at least one shot in nine of his 10 starts at home and at least two on four occasions.
Prediction
An even contest with both teams on the scoresheet looks a likely scenario at Molineux after both clubs showed how not to protect leads in the Premier League last weekend.
Both teams scored in Wolves’ final three pre-season games as well as at Elland Road while Fulham’s 2-2 home draw played out in a similar manner to their previous three warm-up assignments.
