WONDER WOLVES
Neves sparks rout... it’s just like watching City!
Another win ticked off, another game closer to realising promotion to the Premier League. the most intriguing question of england’s top two tiers may be who will lift their league title first: Wolves or Manchester City?
this was as comfortable as victories get and given it came against a Brentford team who started the night in 10th place after three consecutive wins that should tell you something about the standard Wolves are reaching.
they had to wait until the second period for the goals that granted them three points but by the final whistle the scoreline reflected their superiority. In the closing minutes manager nuno espirito Santo took the opportunity to savour by conducting the crowd when they invented a chant to mock those who questioned whether the club’s foreign imports would last through winter.
nuno’s team have now won 10 and drawn two since last suffering defeat in october and this result stretched their lead over second-placed Derby to 12 points. With 61 points from 26 games, reading’s record Championship total of 106 from 2005-06 looks under threat.
‘Both teams played good football,’ said nuno. ‘In the second half our talent came out and we were able to get a good victory. It was a tough spell, these boys played a lot of matches in very short days. But they enjoyed it, they were able to get energy from each other.’
nuno made only two changes to his starting line-up across three matches since Boxing Day, undermining objections to a busy fixture list from managers in the level above. But he does want to add to his squad and is set to sign Valencia striker rafa Mir for £1.5million.
that should ease the burden on Leo Bonatini, who nearly opened the scoring inside two minutes but found the post to kick off a frenetic start by the hosts. ryan Bennett had a header from a corner cleared off the line and then a superb lobbed pass by Willy Boly put Matt Doherty clear but Daniel Bentley saved.
For Brentford Sergi Canos and Yoann Barbet sent efforts just wide and that was as close as they got.
A sensational passage of play by Wolves saw Barry Douglas meet a crossfield pass first time to tee up Diogo Jota, who struck an immediate finish only for Bentley to dive full- stretch to divert. Straight after the break the Brentford goalkeeper was back to work again. Bonatini wriggled through some suspect tackles but his effort was too close to Bentley.
Wolves finally had their deserved lead in the 57th minute, and it was a goal worth the wait. ruben neves is admired more for his passing than his scoring but both of his two Wolves goals prior to last night were stunning strikes and here was a third. the freekick he summoned from 25 yards was a classic, sailing into the top corner past Bentley.
the dam broken, it took less than two minutes for Wolves to double their advantage. Just on as a substitute, Ivan Cavaleiro burst down the right and squared so that Douglas could arrive onto the ball and hit a composed finish into the roof of the net with his weaker right foot. Cavaleiro tried himself not long after, hammering a shot that Bentley just about kept out, before Jota added a third despite having fallen to the floor with 10 minutes left. When Wolves players are scoring on their backs the rest of the division has reason to shudder.
‘We tried to be aggressive by pressing them higher, but they have quality players and showed it,’ said Brentford boss Dean Smith. ‘I thought we were oK but you can’t come to the championselect and be oK.’