Wolves blog: The bar has been raised

At the beginning of July, Wolves sat at around 14/1 with most bookmakers to win the Championship – and you would probably say fairly so, with teams such as Middlesbrough, Aston Villa, Fulham and Derby among the more highly fancied.

After starting their season with four successive victories and signing a multitude of talented players, Wolves have now dropped to around 3/1.

It isn’t just Wolves fans that would say “fairly so” any more, as Hull’s head coach Leonid Slutsky has labelled Wolves as the “best team in the Championship”.

Similarly, it is extremely rare to see opposition fans complimenting Wolves on their style of play and strengths.

Last season, Chelsea won the Premier League with a 3-4-3 formation which other teams struggled to cope with.

So far Wolves have also done that – the use of wing backs, a solid central midfield and three forwards is proving especially effective.

The strength in scoring depth has been shown, as six different players have scored Wolves’ seven goals so far.

The pick of the bunch was easily Ruben Neves’ long-distance strike to put Wolves 1-0 up against Hull.

Neves’ passing and tackling are far above anything any Wolves fan could ever have hoped to see while in the Championship – he is simply a joy to watch.

He has, so far, confounded doubters naysaying his ability to cope in the English second tier.

It is also worth mentioning Bright Enobakhare, who after starting the first game in place of the suspended Ivan Cavaleiro, has retained his place in both other league games so far.

He looks far from out of place, which even raises the outrageous question about where Helder Costa will fit into the side when he returns.

A top of the table clash against Cardiff on Saturday will be another fantastic occasion after beating off three strong teams in Middlesbrough, Derby and Hull.

The Bluebirds haven’t conceded a league goal whilst scoring six in the process.

Neil Warnock will have his team fired up on Saturday, citing Wolves’ expenditure as a motivating factor for his side.

In Kenneth Zohore, Cardiff have one of the Championship’s most sought-after players – he scored at Molineux back in April, heading over Andy Lonergan.

Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, who came through the Wolves academy, has scored already four goals in both league and cup.

Cardiff’s last two league victories, a 3-0 win against Aston Villa and 2-0 defeat of Sheffield United have come despite having far less possession than their opponents on both occasions.

Other than against Hull, where Wolves enjoyed more possession, Wolves’ other two games have been more fairly matched in this department.

Both teams have great counter-attacking ability, but Wolves have yet to face opposition who sit back and try to frustrate them – as so often happened at Molineux last year.

On paper, you would say Wolves easily have the ability to thwart this tactic, but in reality this may be tougher.

With a near sell out home crowd following the huge crowd against Boro, a second Molineux league win to replace Cardiff at the top of the table will do wonders and keep both the team’s and the fans’ momentum going.