Craig Dawson, Santi Bueno and Pedro Lima have all returned to training this week after their recent absences as preparations for the visit of Bournemouth in the Premier League ramp up.
Dawson was kept out of Saturday’s victory over Fulham by illness, while Bueno was brought back early from international duty with Uruguay the previous week due to a groin injury, but both centre-backs returned to the grass at Compton Park this week.
Lima has been out of action for the last month after going off injured in the under-21’s Premier League International Cup draw with Dynamo Zagreb at Aggborough.
But he took a step closer to getting back match fit out on the training pitches this week, as Gary O’Neil put the squad through their paces ahead of a possible third successive Premier League win – something the Old Gold haven’t achieved since last December.
However, a run of two consecutive wins and an unbeaten run of four games has seen pressure ease on the Wolves manager.
Many of the Molineux faithful might suggest that after a 4-1 victory against Fulham, O’Neil should not meddle too much with the starting XI.
However, one star who must return to the first XI is Goncalo Guedes after his exceptional run of form.
Goncalo Guedes’ Wolves form has been sensational
Despite his limited minutes this season, Guedes has more than impressed. The attacker looked to have no future at Wolves after he spent the previous season and a half out on loan.
However, O’Neil brought Guedes back into the fold during pre-season and he has since been a squad player.
His recent form has more than justified this position. Despite mainly being used in the cup or from the bench, Guedes has accumulated five goal contributions in all competitions for the Old Gold this season.
His most recent addition came on Saturday as he netted a late fourth goal against Fulham despite only coming onto the pitch in added time.
As a result, Guedes is currently averaging a goal contribution every 56 minutes for Wolves. This is better than most world-class attackers such as Erling Haaland who is currently averaging one every 95 minutes for Man City.
On top of this, over the past year, Guedes has shown he is extremely creative. Per 90 minutes, he is averaging 3.5 shot-creating actions, 4.63 progressive passes, 3.43 progressive carries and a pass completion rate of 76.5%. According to Fbref, each one of these are inside the top 20% compared to other forwards.
Yet, the Portuguese attacker has had few minutes on the pitch. It has been reported that Guedes ‘would welcome’ a Wolves exit in January. However, more minutes on the pitch could change this.
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