All football fans will be familiar with the chant “can we play you every week?”, but it would be more apt if Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters started signing “can we play in the Carabao Cup every week?”, even if it hasn’t quite got the same ring to it.
This is because, having already ousted West Ham in round two, Wolves beat Everton 2-0 in the EFL Cup at Molineux on Tuesday, thanks to goals from Marshall Munetsi and then Tolu Arokodare.
So, despite having beaten two top division teams in the League Cup, the Old Gold have lost all five Premier League matches they’ve played so far, the club’s worst-ever start to a season, following last weekend’s 3-1 reverse at the hands of Leeds.
On Saturday night, Wolves will face Spurs in North London, and an appointment with Doctor Tottenham might just be what they need to cure their relegation woes, but Vítor Pereira will need to unleash his “huge talent” if his side are going to get off the mark in the capital.
Jørgen Strand Larsen's importance to Wolves
This is Wolverhampton Wanderers’ eighth successive season in the top division, their longest stay since the 70s, but many fear that the streak could come to an end, given that they continuously sell their best players.
In 2023, it was Matheus Nunes and Rúben Neves who were sold for big money, with Pedro Neto and Max Kilman following suit 12 months later, while Rayan Aït-Nouri and Matheus Cunha were sold for a combined £93.5m during the most-recent transfer window.
Cunha scored 17 goals last season, directly involved in 39% of Wolves’ Premier League goals, despite sitting out five matches due to various suspensions.
Thus, he was always going to leave a rather large void in the Black Country, one that Jørgen Strand Larsen is attempting to fill, having himself scored 14 times during his debut campaign at Molineux, netting twice so far this season, both in the Carabao Cup.
As already outlined, Wolves have become accustomed to selling their stars in recent times, but recognised the potentially disastrous consequences of allowing Strand Larsen to leave, thereby rejecting multiple bids from Newcastle for the Norwegian’s signature, the highest of which was £55m.
The 25-year-old has been nursing an achilles issue, thereby sitting out the defeats to Everton and Newcastle, before being introduced off the bench against Leeds on Saturday, so he simply must start at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, but which new teammate will help get the best out of him?
Wolves' new Matheus Cunha
On deadline day, Wolverhampton Wanderers signed striker Tolu Arokodare from Genk for a reported fee of £24m.
The Nigerian international started against both Newcastle and Leeds, in the aforementioned absence of Strand Larsen, before opening his account in old gold by scoring off the bench in the EFL Cup on Tuesday.
From his time in Belgium, Arokodare is certainly highly rated, with Graeme Bailey labelling him a “huge talent” and at 6 ft 6 in (197 cms), he is imposing and a major attacking threat.
Earlier this year, the striker bagged his first two international goals, netting for Nigeria against Russia at the Luzhniki and then during a victory over Rwanda in a World Cup qualifier in Uyo earlier this month.
At club level meantime, Arokodare scored 22 goals in 34 appearances for his first European club, namely Valmiera in Latvia, spending time at Köln and then Amiens, before truly bursting onto the scene with Genk.
Last season, he scored 23 goals in all competitions for the Smurfs, thereby sharing the Jupiler Pro League golden boot.
The table below indicates how prolific he was in Belgium.
Goals
21
1st
Goals inside the box
21
1st
Headed goals
3
1st
Shots
158
1st
Shots on target
52
1st
Big chances missed
34
1st
Aerial duels won
156
3rd
% of aerial duels won
63.41%
5th*
*minimum 100 won.
As the table documents, Arokodare led the way for all attacking metrics in Belgium’s top-flight last season.
Worth highlighting that all 21 of his goals were scored inside the penalty area, including three headers, underlining his style of play, albeit the fact he missed a whopping 34 Opta-defined big chances has to be a concern.
Nevertheless, the fact he won the third-most aerial duels is commendable, emphasising how he could be useful to Wolves.
Pereira has favoured a back five as Wolves boss, a shape which would allow him to deploy two centre-forwards together, having notably seen Cunha and Strand Larsen work in tandem last term.
Chalkboard
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Thus, if he selects Arokodare and Strand Larsen together against Tottenham, it would prevent one or the other from becoming massively isolated while, together, they’re capable of causing Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero problems, potentially helping Wolves cause a massive shock in North London.
