{"id":1025,"date":"2020-07-03T17:42:53","date_gmt":"2020-07-03T16:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1025"},"modified":"2020-07-26T18:46:45","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T17:46:45","slug":"six-pointer-at-molineux-as-we-take-on-jorge-mendess-wolves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1025","title":{"rendered":"Six pointer at Molineux as we take on Jorge Mendes\u2019s Wolves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal go to Molineux on Saturday\nafternoon for what looks to be a tricky visit to the Midlands. The Wolves\nground is situated just a ten minute stroll from the City centre, opening up\nall sorts of parking, eating and drinking opportunities for the visiting supporter.\nThe ground itself is well presented, with lots of recent refurbishment, though\nwith the very odd set up that away supporters get the whole, shallow lower tier\nalong one side, from one penalty box to another, rather than the more usual end\nbehind a goal. The Wolves supporters really do have only one song, which, a la\nblowing bubbles or YNWA, they sing before kick off. Jeff Beck\u2019s Hi Ho Silver\nLining strikes up and then as the chorus looms, the PA goes silent and the home\ncrowd belt out \u201cAnd it\u2019s Hi, Ho Wolverhampton!\u201d. At which point there is\nusually a somewhat embarrassed silence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However they\u2019ve had a bit more to sing\nabout against us since returning to the Premier League in 2018. In fact we\nhaven\u2019t beaten them yet, with two home draws and then an absolute away thumping\nlast April when their 3-1 win did not really reflect how much better they were\nthat night, in a game I had the misfortune to attend. In our last game against\nus this season, at the Emirates in November (from which the image above is taken),\nwe took an early lead through Auba and managed to hold it until they equalised\nwith 15 minutes to go. On balance they were again the better team and probably\ndeserved three points more than we did. So overall, Wolves are favourites for\nthis game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Nuno Espirito Santo took over, almost\nthree seasons ago, they have won the Championship, reached the semi final of\nthe FA Cup and finished 7th<\/sup> in last year\u2019s Premier League,  a result which put them into this year\u2019s\nEuropa League. This season, after 32 games they sit sixth, six points ahead of\nus and with a good fighting chance of making a Champions League place. Since\nthe restart they have had three fairly comfortable wins against West Ham,\nBournemouth and Villa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, a plucky small club getting it right through\ngood organisation and team spirit? Well, not quite. NES\u2019s appointment was the\nfirst arranged via the super agent Jorge Mendes. Since then Mendes has brought\nover ten players to Wolverhampton and he appears to have an almost monopoly on\nplayer recruitment, something which no doubt is highly lucrative for him.\nMendes appears to have the support of the very hands off Chinese owners Fosun.\nAt a time when we are debating, not least in this bar, the advisability of\nEdu\u2019s mate Kia Joorabchian  (bringer of Luiz\nand Soares to the club and with strong rumours of Willian, another client,  joining over the summer) growing increasingly\ninfluential at Highbury House, Wolves are taking a very modern approach to\ntheir football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wolves bring many threats to their game,\nincluding Adama Traore, Diogo Jota and Raul Jiminez and they play  a nice, pacy passing football which will test\nour defence. This game is the first of a tough run of games following our three\non the bounce wins. After Wolves we play Spurs, Leicester and Liverpool, plus a\nCup semi against Manchester City. This is a crucial period for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I expect a back three to continue, with\nCedric Soares getting a start at right wing back after his goal scoring debut\nagainst the hapless Norwich. I also hope to see Rob Holding on the left of the\nback three replacing Kolasinac. Lucas Torreira is available for selection. Who\nknows the situation of the two lads on the naughty step, Ozil and Guendouzi?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My expected line up is
\n
\nMartinez
\nMustafi, Luiz, Holding
\nSoares, Tierney
\nXhaka, Ceballos, Saka
\nAuba, Eddie<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018holic pound can be obtained at 21\/2\nfor a 2-1 win, or a slightly tastier 17-1 for 2-0. I\u2019m for a cautious 2-1 to\nus, though my head says it could be a draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will the good mood continue or will we be\nthrown back into despair? 5.30 tomorrow will bring the answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal go to Molineux on Saturday afternoon for what looks to be a tricky visit to the Midlands. The Wolves ground is situated just a ten minute stroll from the City centre, opening up all sorts of parking, eating and drinking opportunities for the visiting supporter. The ground itself is well presented, with lots of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1027,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions\/1027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}