Steve Bull: Wolves striker Raul Jimenez has no weaknesses

He is brimming with confidence, and having been there myself, there is no better feeling – you feel on top of the world.

Every time Jimenez steps out on to the pitch, he looks like he is going to score!

You are not going to end up scoring with every single shot in a game, but he has been scoring crucial goals at the right time.

The mental resolve he displayed on Thursday to get the winner against Slovan Bratislava – minutes after accidentally kicking Renan Bajric in the head – was so impressive.

Nuno said it last week – Jimenez’s contribution goes beyond his goals.

He holds the ball up well, he runs the channels, and he carries on going right until the final whistle.

But a striker’s job is to put the ball in the back of the net, and with 12 in 22 games so far this season, Jimenez is proving himself to be of the utmost importance to the squad. He is a proper worker, a proper grafter – there are no weaknesses in his game.

Hopefully, Jimenez keeps up his hot streak against Villa today. We all know how huge a win would be for us right now.

The pleasing things going into the game are that we showed a never-say-die attitude to beat Slovan and put one foot in the Europa League knockout stages – I would much rather score early, but never mind – and we have Diogo Jota back.

For me, he has got to start and I would go with the front three of him, Jimenez and Adama Traore.

The three of them, that’s a frontline which will strike fear into any defence!

Don’t get me wrong, I thought Pedro Neto did well again on Thursday and is going to be a good play for us in the future. At the minute though Jota is a class above. Whenever he is available and it is a big game, he should be playing.

I think it is going to be really tight today, though. Both teams are eager to pick up three points ahead of the international break, and what better way for us to go into it than beating a local rival? I can’t wait.