Dave Edwards: Wolves can impact relegation picture in huge upcoming fixtures

They have Leeds away coming, Spurs and Sunderland at home, but first off a trip to the London Stadium to face relegation-threatened West Ham on Friday night.

The reverse fixture was a really good one for Wolves, their best 45 minutes of the season, their first win and their first clean sheet.

Mateus Mane put on a masterclass in that first half, so they should take confidence from that, in a game in which West Ham really succumbed to pressure.

The Hammers have rallied more recently under Nuno Espirito Santo, but the results still aren't great, they're still in the bottom three and sitting just below some other teams who aren't in great form as well.

I think Wolves playing away from home at West Ham will help them, it'll be a very anxious atmosphere.

It's a game West Ham simply must win - a game they've all been looking at over the last two or three weeks as winnable and a good opportunity to get three points.

But if Wolves can frustrate them early, slow down West Ham's tempo, and - it sounds silly - keep the ball out of play as much as possible so no rhythm can be built, the atmosphere will turn quite quickly.

We’ve seen that happen at Molineux at times this season, so that's what Wolves will be trying to do at West Ham. They have to make it as difficult as possible for the players to play their normal stuff, because when the pressure does build it is increasingly difficult and that's where you need your best players to stand up.

They need to start the game a lot better than what they have done in most games this season.

When you look at the Brentford game in their last outing, Wolves will need to start better, they can't afford to go 2-0 down against West Ham.

Then they must hit the momentum that they built in the second half against Brentford and try to take that into the game. It was a terrific effort from those players in that second 45, some big performances in there and those players will be pushing to start.

Will Rob Edwards bring Tolu Arokodare in from the start? How will that midfield line-up? Will he leave Mane out? He looked very tired in his last outing and Angel Gomes coming into that midfield four really helped Wolves look a lot more solid because they had the ball for longer and they could build attacks.

These are big decisions that Edwards needs to make in what is a big game.

Wolves have some big fixtures after the West Ham game too, and while their main objective is to catch Burnley who sit three points away, they can also have a huge impact on the overall relegation picture.

It's a long shot for Wolves to get out of it but they can certainly impact those teams above them.

Recently, on the Anfield Wrap podcast, when discussing Wolves’ performance against Liverpool, Wolves were described as the loose horse in the National and I think that is very apt.

If they can continue to show the resurgence of form, the resilience and the fight that they've shown in recent months under Edwards, then we can push to have a really strong finish this season.

Wherever that leaves Wolves at the end of it, there'll be a lot more good feeling about the place moving into the summer and next season, in what will be the most important summer in such a long time.

It has to start against West Ham, a game that is winnable and we can put the pressure back on Nuno’s side by making them play in an uncomfortable environment as Wolves methodically go about their business.

I'm looking forward to seeing Wolves back in action. It's been a long three weeks and hopefully the work on the training field will be seen in that game.

It’s the first time Edwards has had an uninterrupted period of time to work on his players tactically and hopefully we'll see that and we can continue to see Wolves' form improve.