Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has predicted that there will be goals when Wolves play host to Tottenham in a game he has deemed as important for both sides.
The home side return to Molineux off the back of a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Brighton last weekend, which makes it two defeats on the bounce after losing to Watford in their last home games, while Spurs will be playing their third game in six days after defeat to Manchester City in the league and victory over West Ham in the League Cup.
Predicting a 3-1 win for the visitors, Merson insisted this match had a lot riding on it for both clubs, stating Wolves’ lack of cutting edge up top is going to cost them.
He wrote in his Sky Sports column: “Spurs’ win at West Ham was a good result, considering the changes, but Monday night’s game against Manchester City was strange. It felt like an exhibition game.
“Tottenham are fighting for top four, that’s where they are at the moment, so this is a big game for them. I think Wolves have hit a brick wall, if I’m honest. We wax lyrical about how great they are at passing it around, but I worry for them in front of goal.
“They keep the ball, but don’t look like scoring. They keep it in nice places, but I just think Tottenham will be miles too good for them.”
Opinion
Merson is right that the game is important for both sides, and it will be fascinating to see how the respective managers approach the clash. Simply speaking, if Tottenham want to secure a top four spot this season, then these are the sort of games that they cannot afford to be losing, or even drawing, and the fact they lost to high flying rivals Manchester City last time out means they need to get things back on track sooner. As for Wolves, they have gone off the boil a bit in recent weeks and could really do with a confidence boost to get back on track. However, as Merson says, their forward line has been letting them down this season and Nuno Espirito Santo needs to find a way to get them firing again to continue their bright start to the season. They could not be coming up against a much tougher defence though, and the Molineux crowd might be lucky to see their side score the one goal that Merson has predicted. Still, they have upped their games against big sides already this campaign, and if they do the same once again they could pull off something of a shock.