da realbet： If anything summed up Wolves’ chaotic season so far, it would be their 2-1 win over Arsenal in midweek.
da 888casino： The Old Gold tasted victory for only the fourth time in their last 14 outings and it came in the strangest of ways.
A penalty and two red cards told a sorry story for the Gunners but Nuno Santo won’t care; he has finally ended the diabolical rut his team were on.
On the chalkboard
Most pleasing for Nuno last Tuesday was not just the win but the performance of Joao Moutinho. The Portugal international hadn’t scored all term before that victory but fired home a rasping drive from long-range that ultimately won the game for the Old Gold.
Going forward they were a threat but it was the same old story defensively. Wolves have kept a solitary clean sheet in the league since October and they were given a torrid time once again by Nicolas Pepe.
That was largely down to the performance of Nelson Semedo. The right-back was abject at the back and let Arsenal players surpass him all too easily.
Semedo set the tone when Cedric got past him in the opening exchanges. His fellow Portuguese full-back danced a merry jig past the former Barcelona defender but it only got worse.
Pepe flew down the left-hand side in a similar fashion to Cedric and then with a lovely piece of tricky advanced past Semedo with absolute ease. The Ivorian was then able to find the net in unerring fashion.
The summer signing was absolutely bullied down the right-hand side, losing 67% of his duels, but this is hardly surprising judging by previous performances in recent weeks.
He has been letting his side down for weeks, being branded a “liability” by journalist Tim Spiers for his mediocre performances in defence.
The 27-year-old put in a similar performance when Everton came to Molineux in January. He was caught out of position for Alex Iwobi’s opener and failed to get tight enough to Lucas Digne. The Toffees full-back was able to deliver a large haul of six crosses that day, something that only demonstrates Semedo’s ineptness in recent months.
Nightmare inbound?
With that in mind, he could be given a torrid time by Leicester on Sunday. Jamie Vardy is in contention to return while Harvey Barnes has been a rampant force down the left-hand side for the Foxes this term.
He’s scored seven Premier League goals while registering three assists in the process. With that in mind, perhaps Nuno could benefit from picking Ki-Jana Hoever?
The youngster established a valuable connection alongside Conor Coady when Wolves suffered a 1-0 defeat at Manchester United in December. The skipper was barking orders at Hoever and it very nearly worked.
The Molineux outfit held on until injury time in a game where Hoever stood out on his first Premier League start.
Having dealt comfortably with the likes of Marcus Rashford you sense he could do a similar job against Barnes. After all, Birmingham Live reporter Alex Dicken said after that United game that Hoever “didn’t put a foot wrong.”
It’s time to axe the £73k-per-week Semedo and bring in Hoever.
AND in other news, Wolves could finally axe Moutinho by signing “intelligent” £13m gem Keogh once bullied…