Wolves go to the City Ground this weekend to take on Nottingham Forest – and pundit Chris Sutton has given his score prediction for the game.
Wanderers are looking to bounce back from defeat against West Ham United, which many supporters still feel irritated about due to what happened at the end.
The VAR decision to rule out Max Kilman‘s injury-time header was widely slammed, with manager Gary O’Neil branding it ‘terrible’.
But Wolves were poor in the second-half against the Hammers and O’Neil has got to get a response out of his players this weekend, against a side who are fighting for their Premier League lives.
Forest sit 17th on 25 points, having had four deducted after breaching profit and sustainability rules. Luton Town are 18th but only by virtue of having a worse goal difference.
It’s a big game, and Chris Sutton has now given his prediction…
Chris Sutton drops ‘well organised’ as he makes Nottingham Forest v Wolves score prediction
Wolves have lost three of their last four games and could do with getting things back on track this Saturday.
There is still hope for European football. But realistically anything less than three points against Forest would really make things difficult.
O’Neil may well have Craig Dawson back, and there may even be a chance for Hwang Hee-chan to make the squad. Matheus Cunha has a couple of substitute appearances under his belt now and could well be ready to start again.
Wolves would really benefit from the return of key players, but even without Dawson and Cunha starting, Wanderers should be targeting a win.
But Sutton believes that despite Wolves being ‘well organised’, they will not win Saturday’s game. Predicting a 1-1 draw, he told BBC Sport: “This is big for Nottingham Forest, who need to bounce back from last week’s defeat at Tottenham.
“I always think Wolves are well organised, though, even if their results have dropped off a bit with only one win in their past five games.
“Wolves boss Gary O’Neil is still fuming about having a late goal ruled out for offside in their defeat to West Ham but I felt it was the right decision.”
Wolves are more organised with Dawson
So Sutton feels Wolves are always ‘well organised’ when he watches them, and that is a fair assessment.
But the team are generally more organised when Dawson is in the backline, which has not been the case for the past five matches.
The 33-year-old brings an air of authority and calm, and he tends to improve those around him, especially Kilman. Hopefully, the veteran has had a good week in training and can be available for this one.
Without him, Wolves have definitely looked a bit more vulnerable at the back, even though Santi Bueno has done a decent job in his absence.