Comment: Adaptable Nuno can move Wolves forward

Just over seven days ago many were fearing that Wolves were about to lose their sixth game out of seven and edge nearer towards a possible relegation battle, writes Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers.

Wins over Chelsea and Newcastle later, Nuno Espirito Santo's team are back in the top half of the table and only four points off sixth place.

Another win against Bournemouth this weekend and they will leapfrog the Cherries and possibly Everton, too, with the Toffees travelling to face Manchester City.

Meanwhile Manchester United, who currently occupy that sixth spot, are away at Liverpool. Leicester travel to Crystal Palace.

Given what's happened in recent weeks it would be unwise to assume anything, but it's safe to say Wolves go into the weekend full of confidence and looking up the table, rather than down.

That they do so is, primarily, down to the adaptability of their head coach.

Yes, adaptability. This correspondent chastised Nuno for being too stubborn in selecting the same formation and largely employing the same tactics during Wolves' miserable run of five defeats in six matches.

Well, he has shown his versatility in their last three games, including the 2-1 loss at Cardiff where Wolves employed hitherto unseen long-ball tactics with plenty of ruggedness thrown in for good measure.

Against Chelsea he started a league match with a different formation for the first time in his Wolves tenure and enlisted the long throws of Ryan Bennett, the most un-Nuno tactic you could wish to think of.

He also gave a belated and welcome Premier League debut to Leander Dendoncker.

Then against Newcastle, after selecting an XI that split opinion amongst supporters and which began to unravel during the match, Nuno made very good use of his substitutions (not something that has been said too often), with all three making a positive impact as another slight formation tweak ultimately paid dividends.

This version of a flexible, malleable Nuno is one that will hold Wolves in good stead in the coming months.

Teams had started to work them out, by crowding the midfield and stopping the wing-backs, but an extra central midfielder, albeit an advanced one in Morgan Gibbs-White (who is making more of an impact of games that many of his senior colleagues at the moment and must start on Saturday) makes a subtle big difference.

He starting to use his squad more. Gibbs-White and Romain Saiss have made their first starts of the season and Diogo Jota has been brought out of the firing line and then back into the side to great effect. Jota is hinting he can be the forward who finally steps up to make a consistent impact in front of goal – what a world of difference that would make.

Nuno also rested/dropped two regular starts in Joao Moutinho and Raul Jimenez at Newcastle, before both made a positive contribution from the bench.

The boss has immediate challenges to face, primarily what to do with an off-colour Ruben Neves, how to get the best out of Adama Traore (a central role surely isn't it) and how to integrate Leander Dendoncker into the side, if he wants to.

Possible suspensions may force his hand on the latter (Conor Coady and Ryan Bennett are a booking away from a ban) but the Neves conundrum is the most pertinent, given what the 21-year-old can bring to this team on his best form.

For now, Nuno would be wise to select the XI that finished the Newcastle game against a Bournemouth team that's lost five of six matches (albeit four of those were against the Manchester clubs, Arsenal and Liverpool) with the only debate being Saiss or Neves alongside Moutinho.

Wolves will need to be at their best. They know full well that teams during that kind of sequence can turn things around pretty quickly.

But after a few frustrating weeks, we've seen the 'real' Wolves return of late.

Given the quality they have and the money they've spent, they should be looking for a top half finish.

As the second half of the season approaches and with certain room for improvement, particularly up front, that is now a realistic aim.