Bruno Lage has revealed Joao Moutinho will be out for an unknown period of time through injury with the Portuguese ace missing their game on Thursday night.
Wolves tasted defeat on Thursday at home against Arsenal and following the game, Lage provided the following update on his injury status (via Tim Spiers): “Let’s see how he goes in the next couple of days.”
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It is believed the 35-year-old felt something during a training session that kept him sidelined for the narrow loss to the Gunners but it is unknown as to whether he will feature on the weekend against Tottenham Hotspur.
The midfielder has played a huge part in Lage’s side this season with Thursday night the first Premier League game in which he has not featured in this campaign (via Transfermarkt).
And with the 45-year-old not sounding too hopeful of a potential return to the squad in the next few days for his Portuguese midfielder, what could this mean for the Wanderers team selection on Sunday?
Lage forced to play Dendoncker?
On Thursday night, Lage mixed his side up as he reverted to a four-man midfield in Moutinho’s absence with Leander Dendoncker and Ruben Neves in the middle.
Dendoncker has made 18 appearances this season in the Premier League under Lage, however, just under half of those have come as a substitute.
And it is apparent the 26-year-old did not impress on Thursday night against Mikel Arteta’s side as 90min awarded the midfielder with just a 5/10 rating.
Even at the age of 35, Moutinho has been able to provide Wanderers with two goals in the Premier League this season which is something that the Belgian has been unable to match as he still searches for his first league goal under Lage.
And even defensively speaking, the Belgian’s display on Thursday was massively off what Moutinho showed against Brentford in his last league outing.
Against the Bees, Moutinho was able to complete four successful tackles, however, on Thursday night, Dendoncker did not make one tackle over the 90 minutes.
Opportunity for Luke Cundle?
An alternative for Lage could be looking to his younger players in the squad for some inspiration with Dendoncker not exactly impressing against the Gunners.
The youngster has been a prominent feature in the Wolves U23s side this season with nine appearances and two goals in the Premier League 2 (via Transfermarkt)
Cundle has also been a regular in Lage’s matchday squad for Wolves with only two occasions this season where he has not made the squad.
However, only once has the Portuguese manager looked to the 19-year-old as an option from the bench, and that came with a brief one-minute cameo against Southampton last month (via Transfermarkt).
Perhaps Moutinho’s absence offers Lage the perfect opportunity to see how the product of the Wolves youth system could fair in the Premier League.
The Wolves manager revealed he would like to give Cundle more game time just last month, and with that in mind is now the time to unleash the youngster?
In other news: Bad news for Dendoncker, potential big statement for Wolves: Spiers drops bold claim – opinion