Just to give a perspective from our end.
The Chelsea game was very welcome for us as the fans had really turned on the players, the first time ever for these lot, after the Brighton game. There was a lack of effort that day and we've been so boring for so long that people finally snapped. There had also been talk of a major row with the manager and players, so all was not well going to Chelsea and there was serious talk that Lage was off, which may seem absurd to outsiders but many fans wouldn't have cared.
So, the Chelsea performance, not just the result, was very welcome. We offered more of a threat than we have done for a long time and Pedro Neto put in the first performance since his injury that reminded us of the old Neto, who was one of the top young players in the league IMO.
We also have a young lad called Chiquinho who made two goals on Saturday and is a bit Traore like. Just runs at people, very fast but his crossing has been excellent - he put the ball in for Coady's equaliser.
Highly unlikely that we get 7th but we actually go into this game with a bit of hope considering how low we were after Brighton.
However, can't let one decent performance detract from the past few months. We are no longer really solid at the back, we lack mobility and if we concede first we often lose. It's something like 14 defeats in 16 when we concede first, all without scoring in those losses. Incredibly, the only times we have got anything after going a goal down is when it's been 2-0 - we won at Villa and then Saturday's draw.
In terms of team news, Saiss went off injured on Saturday, which is bad news for you as he has been a liability in recent weeks, although with Kilman injured we are pretty short on options, so Toti Gomes could start, only made a few appearances (did okay to be fair) having spent years on loan with Grasshoppers.
Would expect our XI to be this:
Sa
Boly, Coady, Toti
Jonny, Dendoncker, Neves, Moutinho, Ait-Nouri
Jimenez, Neto
Marcal could play ahead of Toti at left centre-back or Ait-Nouri if he wants a more experienced and perhaps reliable defender.
I expect you will force us back and dominate the ball as usual, we might have a bit of resistance in us as we generally do quite well at stopping you in comparison to others.
Would expect a relatively comfortable win for you though, and I'd say West Ham (A) looks the much tougher test. Perhaps because ours is a night game we might get a decent atmosphere going which could make it tough but we just aren't as good as we used to be, or as good as the Hammers.
Apologies for the long post, hope you win the league (as do virtually all Wolves fans) and obviously we can feel less guilty about getting a result now ;). Another fun final day taking the **** out of the scousers from the away end awaits us it seems.
