You can now get 200/1 on Wolves being relegated, just in case you want an insurance policy for irrational fear.
37 points will be enough but there’s no reason we should be expecting five defeats to close out the season.
It’s a bumpy-looking landing with four games against sides in and around the European places, but I expect us to be competitive.
The away form has been poor all season with just 2 wins from 16 and 9 defeats. A clear area for improvement in the immediate and, barring catastrophe, next season in the Premier League.
Brighton
It was annoying the Seagulls couldn’t avoid defeat at Forest on Wednesday, particularly having been a goal up at the City Ground.
That loss, combined with penalty shootout pain at Wembley on Sunday, has made it the worst week of the season for Roberto De Zerbi’s side.
European football remains possible with their games in hand but it’s a daunting run-in with Arsenal, City, Newcastle, Man Utd and Villa all still left to play.
Home games against Southampton, Everton and us tomorrow will be considered must-win if they’re to have any chance.
Wherever they do end up finishing it’s been another season of progress for the club. They’ve been playing great football for a few years but have added cutting edge to elevate them to a new level.
The vultures are already circling over their top talent so it will probably be another busy summer for their first-class recruitment team. Reports this morning suggest they’ve already agreed a £30m deal for Watford forward Joao Pedro so they’re not wasting any time.
Wolves
It’s incredible that we’ve beaten Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea, Brentford and Palace without conceding a single goal.
All of those wins came at Molineux though and we’ve found it nigh on impossible to keep cleansheets away. The only one we’ve mustered was a stalemate with Bournemouth right at the start of the season.
We’ve gone ahead countless times (Leeds, Palace, Villa, Fulham and Leicester immediately come to mind) but haven’t been able to convert a good start into victories. The only two we have won on our travels were against Everton and Southampton where we conceded first and clawed our way back. Weird.
I wonder what Julen has in mind for this one? Brighton will likely have more possession so we need to be compact and able to break at speed. Perhaps a good one for either Neto or Traore?
Nelson had a stinker in the reverse fixture, but hopefully that’s a good incentive for him to keep up his recent form and atone for that torrid afternoon. It won’t be easy up against the brilliant Mitoma.
Predictions
Well done to Pauluswolf and Graham from Horsham for getting the scoreline spot-on in their predictions for the Palace game. Both pocket a maximum.
Rich still holds a 4 point lead at the top of the overall table at the end of Gameweek 33.
As always, if you’d like to join in with the Prediction League this season, it’s simple – just leave your prediction in the comment section below using the boxes provided. Then repeat for every preview article throughout the season, making sure you always use the same email address to make your prediction. Your email is what ties you to your overall score.
You can read my prediction for the game in the comment section below.
Brighton are a class act. The winger Mitoma destroyed us at the Mol. I travel down in hope more than expectation even though we are looking a much more competitive side under JL.. A point would be a great result for us and might well just be enough to close out any lingering fears of relegation amongst us fans if other results go our way too!
.
We have improved recently, and I look for this trend to continue. Won’t be easy tnough, as Brighton will be smarting after their last two performances.
Hope Costa can play but this being his third game in a week, perhaps it may be too much? Hope he starts.
I say this every week, but surely we can get at least one correct VAR decision in our favor for a change. The straight red for their goalie that was not given, did not affect us as it occurred so late in the game, but surely one ref can see a game properly!
Wolves against the world, all of this season, yes, Wolves against the whole world, —- and we will win!
Looking safe now, but still like to see the 40pts mark – 1 more win will do it, and no reason why we cannot get something at Brighton .
Chuffed with correct score against the Palace – cheers Ruben.
Stating the bleeding obvious here:- No change there then.
Brighton are a good side playing some excellent football.
I’d settle for a point on Saturday.
But, hell! Let’s go for a win!
I think we still might find a tired Brighton after their 2 exploits over the past week.
If we can initially hold them and maybe get an early goal, come the final 30 minutes, introduce Adama to run riot against their tired legs.
That’s the theory, In practice, l could be talking a load of rubbish – won’t be the 1st time, and certainly not the last.
Like Pauluswolf, it was great to get a bang on result in the prediction league. 2 in a row? Unlikely but heyho.
Playing against one of the teams of the season especially away from home will give us an interesting take on how far we have come and how far we still have to go if the ambition is to compete for a European place next season
Thomas has made much of our poor away performances in his summary and certainly our recent results against Leicester and Forest were hugely disappointing. Prior to that though, and since J-Lo took over, all of our other away games (where we didn’t win) were against sides in the top six and a resurgent Villa. So I’m hoping that, in this case, the Stats – they lie !!
Unfortunately Brighton are also currently a top six side and our remaining away games are also against top sides. So we will still need to improve to get anything out of them.
The question is – can the Seagulls lift their heads again after their disappointment in the Cup defeat to Man U followed by their surprise battering at Forest? Can they keep their energy up under the pressure of trying to achieve their highest finish in the top flight?
Good looking team there Thomas .. and I agree about Neto being given a run from the start .. (I presume his leg remained attached after Johnstone’s lunge) .. and why it wasn’t a straight Red .. I’ll never understand.
Tuesdays’ result was good but we still need a few more points to avoid any heartache at Arsenal in the last match.
There’s seems a genuine togetherness about us now and in no small thanks to Captain Ruben, Dawson, Lemina and Diego .. FOUR standouts in our current run of 3 wins from 4 games .. how soul destroying for those nestled in the bottom three…
Brighton are going to have some tired legs and minds tomorrow following the last two setbacks and it’s up to us to capitalise on their woes …
A win would be great but a draw would be ok ..
Let’s not faff about …
Brighton still have 8 games left (we have 5) including Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal and Newcastle so plenty of tough game ahead, so will viewing us as a most winnable game at home.
We have Man Utd and last game at Arsenal but also 2 great home games against the Villa and Everton.
So will take another point here as a good result
250/1 in places Thomas so maybe all the doom and gloom merchants should lump on. Brighton have been something of a bogey teams over the years but they’ll be feeling a bit of pressure too in the hunt for European places. We’ve got to keep their set pieces to a minimum and how about scoring from one of our own?
I too have been impressed with Brighton over the last few seasons and have had a soft spot for their supporters as I was at their place when we got relegated a few seasons , their supporters were in a type of solidarity with us as obviously they had felt the hurt we were feeling as they were emerging from decades of being kicked while they were down . Particularly impressive though is the way that they’ve come back from Potter leaving and losing their best players and coming back even stronger …Well done to them and all power to them for being an unfashionable team that is sticking it to the top 4 cartel
As regards this game , most people would right off our chances but I thought that Forest might get something second half from their game after the tired legs from the extra time exploits against united . On top of that they played another tough game on Thursday so recovery is a issue . On that basis I Reckon we will be playing with a new found confidence so I’m going for a hard fought narrow win
. Wish Clive and Brommo were around to share this new chapter in our rise
UTW and FOWB
Well said Matt I remember that day well at their place, they did share our grief.
We can catch them on the rebound after their Wembley result and sneak a draw.
The manager is quite right to emphasise that we need a few more points to be safe although actually quite possibly we don’t. Nevertheless it would be good now to be given a glimpse of the approach and tactics for next season. I think this game and the other away games that remain are an opportunity to stick with the formula that he has found at last and tweak a thing or two here or there. Brighton are a good example of how a club should be run in all departments and we could certainly pick up a thing or two from their way of doing things. Anything from this game would be a good result and I can’t see us stopping them from scoring but I reckon we can win it
I guess this could either be a good or bad time to play Brighton – on one hand, they could be having a familiar post-cup-heartbreak meltdown, or they could be looking to bounce back in style against a team that they’ll perceive as now being ‘on the beach’. I’ve got my last few predictions wrong so I’m letting my heart rule my head this time – come on me babbies!
We’ll give them a game but they’ll be a different beast at home and with our poor away form I can’t see us holding their free scoring frontline at bay. We held off Palace but it was an onslaught in the second half and I reckon it’ll be more of the same but minus the mol crowd to push us over the line. Let’s hope for a few more slices of luck to prove me wrong. UTW
It has to be a win for us again, we’re on a roll.
If Forest can beat them, so can we!?
Keep up the good performances and surely another win on the cards Brighton are having a bit of a wobble so nows are chanceto get the win.
Lot of love on here for the Albion. Not often you get to say that.
They are definitely the model which any team not owned by a state should be trying to emulate. That said as far as I’m concerned come 3pm tomorrow they might as well be the other Albion from the lower league.
I’ll take a draw all day from this one.
Albion Rovers?
Never easy for the Wolves v. Brighton.
Being realistic about our away form I don’t really see us getting anything here.
Brighton- a team who have arguably more to complain about VAR even than us- should be an intriguing game if the officials let two good teams get on with it.
The win in midweek has bought us some welcome breathing space and we should hope to capitalise upon Brighton’s tired heads and legs in the second half- if we are still in the game. Hope Gomes gets some game time.
Hard to predict an outcome- head says a narrow loss, heart says a narrow win. Get anything at all and we will be safe and can have a right go at Villa next week.
12th man will be irrepressible. COMB’s as Fraser would say.
Almost safe
I know this will be tough however we are due an away win so…….
Whoever is in touch with big Mark and John (scooped) can I ask a favour.?
Has anything been agreed on Clive’s final resting place in his favourite City of Wolverhampton, I did like the thought of him being placed on a grassy knoll in between Sainsbury’s car park and the Golden Palace, but that’s a decision for his dearest friends.
If something has been agreed on, could someone please let me know at my e-mail address below and I will pass the information onto his daughter Vicki.
Obviously no rush as they don’t have is ashes yet, but I would like to give her an update.
StuWolf
(Stu1951@yahoo.com)
What a fantastic image of Ruben, Stuwolf . Where did it come from?
hi stu
Tricky one this
We went to last years 1-0 and after we got absolutely hammered in the Fiddlers Elbow (Brighton’s premier Irish Pub)
am hoping no further hammerings occur this time(unless its from us !)
Bonfire night and we were level at 2-2 just as Semedo saw red on the stroke of half time.
The Seagulls found a winner in the 83rd minute and what had started as a promising big rocket ended up a dampened sparkler.
Fast forward to this Saturday and we should have enough confidence, competence and grittiness to make life hard for Brighton. If the Seagulls think they can turn up at home and bag 3 points against us without breaking a sweat they can flock off.
The good news is they will be without Lallana, who scored and assisted in the reverse fixture. But we still have to contend with a very good team, who have something to prove after recent disappointments, and something to aim for, with European football beckoning. And they have no small amount of quality, including Mitoma. A dangerous mix.
So it won’t be easy.
We have five more games.
After Brighton away;
Villa home.
Man Utd away.
Everton home.
Arsenal away.
We almost certainly have enough points now but no one at Wolves would dare utter that until it’s official.
It’s a tough run in, but you would hope we would be able to pick up a win and a draw.
A little less pressure gives the players a chance to enjoy and express themselves. Julen has got them playing with energy and grit and as a team.
Then a continuation of the rebuild in the Summer. It’s been suggested that money will again be made available to ensure Wolves can compete in the top half of the League. They have the manager and back room team to make that happen and get a return on their investment.
And with less influence from Jorge Mendes. None of the Winter acquisitions were his clients. And they’re doing us proud.
That’s not to say he hasn’t contributed to our recent return to the top league, but it began to feel as if we were serving his requirements, not the other way around.
With less reliance on him and more on our own recruitment process, the future again looks bright.
UTW
Brighton tend to do well against us and have two poor results to put right but I’m going for a 1-1 draw and hoping we can nick it.
But we do need Semedo to have one of his better games to achieve that…
I may regret this but I’m thinking that I won’t go with my 0-3 prediction even tho its worked for us in 3 of the last 4 games
we can play with freedom and go for a fine season end finish now ( he said with everything crossed)
COYW
Reverse psychology…
Works every time ..
Solly March hasn’t had a good week, and if we’re lucky he’ll be on penalty duty if the unthinkable happens.
I’m hoping for a full gas performance, a bit of freedom and some accurate passing. This will be a good test against the wobbling seagulls, who narrowly failed to reach their first ever FA cup final, in what turned out to be a torturous semi v. The Midges. And then to have Steve Cooper yakking on about ‘Super Forest’ really pinched their chips. Even if they did want to go to the beach, there’s no no sand on it.
Can we do it? Of course.
1 lv & COYW.
Thought they looked a bit leggy against forest, forest might have done us a favour with their high tempo game, 3 games in 6 days will I hope take its toll but they do like to play us
This is gonna be a thrashing. And it’s about time we thrashed Albion. 3-0. That bloke who is manager I thought they had appointed a zebra. Which is fine. The first Zebra to manage in the premier league. Interesting because when ever I have seen a Zebra at a zoo or something they always seem to be a bit nervous and run off. Of course I finally realised the bloke was called de Zerbi. And was not. In fact. A zebra. But this doesn’t detract from the fact the Wolf is amongst them . J Lo prowling on the sidelines. His coaching staff telling Zebra where to go. Of course. The WWFC great escape has been built on Fortress Loppy. 6 wins. 6 clean sheets goals for 10. Against 0 in those 6 wins. JLo always says ‘clean sheets’ are priceless. So an exhausted Albion. A wolfpack ready to pounce it is all there. Got a feeling for a 1-0 win WWFC. Usually close games down there. After the game di Zebra said ” Bollocks. I am not a zebra. In fact my great great nephew was a lawnmower in Hove. So fuck off”. JLo said ” I will be buying the squad their dinner. Which won’t include zebra steaks”. BHA 0 WWFC 1.
Going to Brighton with a bit more hope now of a winning performance. Hate the long journey back when we lose. Starting to look forward to next season when we the players will have had a full pre-season with J Lo.
Optimistic winning score but would take a draw.
Should be a cracking game – I hope we attack from the off – going to be a goal fest! UTW
Brighton are still flying high, albeit with some setbacks recently. We still find it hard to score and we make may be in the mood to take a breather given our consolidated position in the table.
Put that together and I’m going for a Brighton win I’m afraid.
It’s after 11pm in my hotel bar in Chicago but the wee hours in the UK.
Barbara and I need to get up early to catch the match but, perhaps more importantly, pack up and check out and fly to San Francisco. It will be good to meet up with Marin Wolf in SF.
In the meantime, it is so good to know the pressure is off – barring a catastrophic sequence of results. So in honour of our old friends Clive and Brompton I’m going for the big one…
Brighton are a good team. We can be a good team in spells, but sloppy or flat at times.
If 37 really is safe then let’s go all out and put the pedal to the metal right from the get go!
Lets go Wolves!
Brighton have really impressed me this season I really like how the progress the ball into the final third which makes their defeat against Forest all the more puzzling maybe a cup hangover. How they invite the press will be a test for us as to whether press or sit deep. They do however leave gaps for teams to exploit so getting the right wide forwards is correct I would say Adama but in his brief cameo against Palace he bearly moved. Maybe Neto??
At some point in the season I probably said I would be content with 17th place. I realise now that I couldn’t take the stress.
Whilst I loved the result, the game against Palace was, imo, awful so I hope it’s been a wake-up shout .
I’d accept a draw.
Haven’t commented for a longtime, but always read the blog, as by far the best place to hear REAL Wolves fans sensible comments.
I think things looks bright for the future under JLo and hope we can show in these last 5 games how we can be competitive even with this squad of players. Obviously a pre season under JLo and some new faces could make us even better.
I’m going to be optimistic and go for a narrow Wolves win today!
COYW
Coming off the back of 2 losses B&H will be hungry and have the skills to win. Expect an under-par performance from Wolves (or is it over-par?). Either wat think it will be tough to get a result…
We’re in decent form and spirits are high. Brighton have had a slight dip so I’ll go 2 1 wolves
A few weeks ago, my prediction would have been a loss by 2 goals. But, we have shown some improvements of late, so I will raise my hopes and prediction to a draw.
The Palace game was not a great spectacle to watch but the three points were far more important. Jose pulled off some great saves and we looked pretty comfortable in defence. Brighton are a much tougher opponent especially at the Amex. A draw today against a good Brighton side would be a good result for us.
I always live in hope but our away form has been dreadful this season and Brighton are a good side, even if they did lose in the week. Main thing is we should be safe now, let’s see what we can do today.
Would love to scrape a draw today but expecting a big response from Brighton after that loss to forest.
Heart says we take a point….. head says we don’t…
Just hope it’s not a battering
Welp, a battering would be putting it nicely.
I’m sticking my neck out and going for a 2-1 Wolves win. But, please, no playing out from the back! I just watched Palace go 3-1 up against West Ham from such a soft goal. Look, we’re not Man City, keep it long at the back. It’s unbelievable how some teams, us included, invite pressure by playing a nervous form of ping pong at the back.
For too long one of our bogey teams even when they were a low table team
Well I’m going for a score draw. And I hope Raul gets a run out today.
Insurance policy for irrational fear needed NOW. I’ve put a grand on!
What the hell is going on at Brighton?
Thanks to Nunes Brighton have scored 2 of their 4 goals. Thanks to god the errors by Sa Dawson Lemina Semedo and Kidman we are only 4 down instead of 9 yes 9 Liverpool would need Wolves to pay them to have him now. Toti and Adama should have been brought on 30 mins ago and Nunes and Semedo sent to Brighton beach
I cannot explain how bad the defence looks in the first half It’s almost like they’ve never seen each other before in their lives never mind training with each other every day.
Named players should cough up travel and ticket costs for all fans who’ve made journey down to Brighton to-day.
Shocking performance absolutely shocking.
They think we are safe…..there on the beach……they may as well be playing in flip flops…… shocking this cannot be tolerated
If any one at Wolves had bothered to watch the SF ManU v Brighton they would have seen how good Brighton can be! If anyone at Wolves had bothered to watch Forest v Brighton they would have learnt how to turn them over ! Doh!
What a S**t show ,no way we’re safe with this lot and if we’re lucky to survive ,a massive clear out is needed , Brighton could have easily scored 10 by now
I really hope 37 points is enough to stay up because I can’t see us picking up anymore till the end of the season!!
Embarrassing. We just never got into the game. Lopetago has a massive job to prepare this lot for the premiership next season. There are at least 6 players he can replace
The previous 2 winning games were against poor teams and really Brightons team today contained 5 reserves.
The Wolves as a gesture shouldn’t pay any of the players today and distribute the monies to all the supporters who witnessed the shambles having travelled all that way at vast costs.
The journey home won’t be a memorable one..!
One small consolation was Neto looked about our brightest light let’s hope Boubacar and Chiquino can come back with similar effects
Well my prediction of a 1-0 win to Wolves was a laugh. Just have to dust ourselves down and get on with it. On the plus side Forest injury time defeat means whatever happens in the Leeds Leicester/Everton games the safety line will STILL be 34 points. And only 4 games to go.
We look like a load of arrogant wallys tonight. However, you always get a couple of tankings each season – let’s hope we don’t get any more.
But no ground lost today, I always ignore the GD, and Molineux will expect a big reaction for the Villa game.