Express & Star

Wolves not underestimating Fulham

Wolves didn’t endure too many dark days last season, but their trip to Fulham was certainly one of them.

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At a pivotal juncture in the title race, Nuno Espirito Santo’s team were soundly beaten 2-0 by the Cottagers with Aleksandar Mitrovic running them ragged.

However, with Mitrovic just about the only player from that side still regularly turning out for Fulham due to a plethora of signings made last summer, it should be a different game today.

Fulham have had plenty of dark days themselves this season, winning only two of their 18 matches despite spending a whopping £100m on signing 12 players last summer.

Portuguese forward Ivan Cavaleiro, who has scored two goals in four appearances against Fulham, says it would be dangerous to underestimate their opponents.

“They can certainly be dangerous because every Premier League side, just like in the Championship, is tough,” he said.

“Fulham have a very good side, but unfortunately they haven’t managed to win many games yet.

“I think it’ll be a great game against a good side and we’re expecting it to be tough. I think it’s a good fixture for us which we’re motivated for, while always respecting our opponents.

“We want to go there and get the win. I think our aim has to be step by step and regardless of who we’re facing, we want to win.”

Captain Conor Coady echoed those sentiments.

He said: “We don’t expect to go there and win. We expect to go and perform and put on a way of playing we want to play. Hopefully we can do that to get the win.

“Fulham are a Premier League team and were fantastic last season.

“We found it hard last season because they played really well against us.

“We need to make sure we’re ready for it.”

Claudio Ranieri recently replaced Nuno Espirito Santo’s good friend Slavisa Jokanovic as Fulham boss but has yet to oversee an upturn in fortunes. Fulham did, though, finally keep their first clean sheet of the season when drawing 0-0 at Newcastle on Saturday.

Cavaleiro said of Ranieri: “I don’t know their coach that well, but I do know that he won the league with Leicester in a season when they didn’t have particularly well-known players and that was the year after battling against the drop.

“Everything is possible in this league. Take the example of Leicester winning the league, which nobody expected. I think Claudio Ranieri did a great job at Leicester.

“There are very good sides in this league and our aim is to take it step by step, game by game, win matches and go as far as possible.”

Wolves will hope Diogo Jota has recovered from a hamstring injury in time to play. Nuno may hand a recall to Morgan Gibbs-White after he was benched against Liverpool.