Wolverhampton-Gillingham is a League Cup fourth-round match played on Tuesday at 20:45: stats, line-ups and predictions.
From a Portuguese to a Spaniard. It will be the turn of an Iberian coach again to try and lift the fortunes of Wolverhampton, who are last in the Premier League table. Wolves will start again with former Spain coach Julen Lopetegui, who has just returned from a positive experience with Sevilla – in the summer of 2021 he won the Europa League – which ended with his dismissal last October. The Basque-born coach has not yet made his official debut on the bench of the black-and-gold team, having failed to resolve the various bureaucratic formalities in time to lead his team in the match against Arsenal – lost 0-2 on 12 November – the last one before the World Cup break. The first two outings were therefore the friendly matches against Paolo Zanetti’s Empoli, which ended 1-1, and Cadiz, beaten in a pyrotechnic 4-3. Matches in which goals were nevertheless seen, the real Achilles’ heel of a team that has only scored eight in fifteen matches. No one, so far, has been able to do worse.
Lopetegui will have the task of giving Wolverhampton some semblance of a game, exploiting the full potential of a squad that has numerous technical and quality players within it. The first league game is the direct clash with Everton on Boxing Day.
Then Wolves will host Manchester United at Molineux. First, however, there is the League Cup: a match that will serve the new coach as a general rehearsal a week before the important challenge with the Toffees. Victory should not be in any doubt against Gillingham, a fourth division side who, like Wolverhampton, are unable to get off the bottom of the table.
The Prediction
Wolverhampton at present are an open building site and are likely to change a lot in the winter market. But Lopetegui should debut with a success in the League Cup, in which his team will likely manage to score at least two goals, while keeping the goal unbeaten.
Wolverhampton-Gillingham
likely line-ups.
- WOLVERHAMPTON (4-3-3): José Sa; Semedo, Collins, Kilman, Bueno; B. Traoré, Moutinho, Hodge; A. Traoré, Diego Costa, Podence.
- GILLINGHAM (4-2-3-1): Turner; Wright, Ehmer, Baggott, Tutonda; Williams, Jefferies; Kashket, Adelakun, Reeves; Walker.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-0
