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1 week ago
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December was always going to be a tough month for Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham. Spurs faced crunch domestic and continental meetings with the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Rangers and Bournemouth, and failed to win all four. Of the eight games this month, they have won two, beating Southampton and Manchester United, and the latter they did their best to throw away.
Next up for Postecoglou’s side is Sunday’s home game against Wolves. On paper, a meeting with a relegation-threatened side should pose little threat to Spurs. However, Wolves come into the weekend’s trip to the capital following back-to-back league wins over Leicester and Manchester United. Vítor Pereira has made the desired impact having succeeded Gary O’Neil at the Molineux helm earlier this month, watching on as his side have scored five times and conceded none.
This will be a true test for a Spurs side that lost their fourth centre-back in Radu Dragusin to injury during the Boxing Day 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest. With the injuries piling up owing to Postecoglou’s relentless gameplan and intense training sessions, Spurs ended the defeat at the City Ground with a centre-back partnership of Archie Gray and Yves Bissouma, two central midfielders by trade.
Even if Spurs were at full strength, they’d have struggled to contain one of the Premier League’s form players. Matheus Cunha was again influential as Wolves beat United, scoring a second-half “Olympico” from a corner, the second Ruben Amorim’s side have conceded in eight days, before providing the assist for Hwang Hee-chan’s late strike. With the January transfer window fast approaching, it’s no wonder the Brazilian has been attracting interest from a number of the Premier League’s big hitters.
Wolves can ill-afford to lose a prized forward who has been directly involved in 14 of their 29 league goals this season, scoring 10, in the new year as they seek to consolidate a top-flight spot. Even prior to Pereira’s appointment, Cunha’s performances were effectively single-handedly keeping Wolves in with a shot of beating the drop. He was scoring the goals he perhaps shouldn’t, Thursday’s goal a case in point.
Cunha’s overperforming his expected goal haul by 6.02 is the biggest overperformance in the division. He should, given the quality of the chances presented to him, have scored just four league goals this season. While it’s not sustainable, Cunha’s final third showings are a core reason behind the 29 league goals Wolves have scored in 2024-25 – just one short of defending Premier League champions Manchester City – and are now outside of the relegation zone by a point.
The 25-year-old is the driving force for this Wolves side in the final third having completed the fifth most dribbles (38) and made the 11th most key passes (33), the former key for a Wolves side is averaging the seventh lowest possession return (46.6%) as they aim to ease pressure on the defence. It’s this ability to ghost past a marker that’ll undoubtedly prove key in Sunday’s game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Not only do Wolves have a very good record at Spurs, winning four of their last six trips to the capital, but Postecoglou’s side remain without key players at the back. Even at full strength, Spurs would have struggled with Wolves’ lightning-fast counters. Indeed, only Sunday’s opponents have scored more goals from counterattacks (10) than Wolves (7) at the time of writing.
This is a Spurs side that very much struggles with transitions. Without the pace of Micky van de Ven at the back, opponents find it easy to turn defence into attack, breaking the lines with a single pass given Postecoglou’s desire to commit men forward. For this Wolves outfit that is able to break forward at speed, with Cunha the catalyst in the final third, it could get ugly for Spurs in the capital this weekend.
Wolves proved at the start of last season just how effective they can be when there is ample space for their runners to capitalise. While Wolves were unable to claim a result in a 1-0 loss at United last August, the profligacy proving their downfall, Cunha et al have added goals to their game, enabling them to pick up crucial points. Postecoglou may need to compromise on his principles – easier said than done for the Australian – if Spurs are to avoid a Cunha-inspired embarrassment.
