Fulham v Wolves preview: Vitor Pereira retaining faith in surviving drop

Fans vented their fury at Molineux on Sunday but the players won back some good feeling on Wednesday with a spirited second half as they lost 4-3 to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup.

It is understood that Pereira's job is under no immediate threat and the head coach is adamant he will turn it around - as he hints at rewarding many of Wednesday's performers with a start at Craven Cottage.

Pereira said: "I don't have any doubts that we'll do it again. We'll turn over the situation for sure.

"In the second half, we won a lot of players because they showed that they deserve to play and they are ready to help the team.

"Even when they are not playing often. It means that the spirit is there.

"They want to change because they want to win.

"Sometimes we commit some mistakes at the end of the game, we concede a throw-in against Burnley. We concede the goals because we feel that we are so close to winning a game. Sometimes we go with everything and we are not balanced.

"But what we did in the second half, this is our team, this is what we can do. We must show since the beginning until the end in every game that we can compete with every team in this league.

"Speaking about the second half, I saw Toti at his best level, Agbadou at his best level, Yerson with his fantastic spirit, trying to help and to play, to be at his best level.

"Wolfe scored two goals and we changed the system in the second half and that's why Wolfe was starting to appear in high positions and he scored two goals. Munetsi again, Tolu, now with different conditions to help the team and to understand what he can do for us, creating problems.

"Joao in his best level, different level, playing like a dog, running, especially in the second half. 

"It means a lot of things that we lost the game, but a lot of things that we won too."

Pereira started Emmanuel Agbadou in central midfield on Wednesday night, before quickly moving him back to his natural position at centre-back.

It was a match that saw Wolves switch to a back five again and while Pereira believes Agbadou can do a job in midfield, he has hinted at a long-term return to a back five.

"We are trying to find solutions because when we changed the system to 4-3-3, the plan for the season was not in this system," Pereira added.

"It means that we are missing players in the positions, missing wingers, wingers one against one with these kind of qualities, missing midfielders. We are trying to find the solutions with Agba, with Krejci.

"They have quality. In my opinion, Agba and Krejci have quality to play as midfielders or as centre-defenders."

But in order to get out of relegation danger and get a result against Fulham, Wolves must improve defensively after terrible starts in their last three games.

"I think we are improving," Pereira added.

"We are improving our offensive process because we are scoring goals. Larsen is in the better level because now he's training without pain, now he's feeling better.

"Tolu is coming. Channy is in a good place for me, he played very well.

"Defensively we need to increase our level, to improve our level, because the way that we conceded the three goals in the first half, we can't do it.

"We can't do it in this league, it's impossible against this kind of team."