ART OF GOLD
Cavaleiro approach shows why Wolves are tops
THE attacking trident of Ruben Neves,Dio go Jot a and Ivan Cavaleiro made it golden for Wolves against 10-man United.
The leaders restored their 11point advantage on a day when manager Nuno Espirito Santos had the luxury of holding new loan signing Benik Afobe back until the last 15 minutes.
This was as convincing as Wolves have been for some time, even before Blades keeper Simon Moore was sent off for clattering Jota.
United tried their best to keep Wolves pegged back but their efforts were undermined within six minutes when Cavaleiro and Ruben Neves combined beautifully 25 yards out.
The latter took a touch and effortlessly curled the ball into the top corner.
‘He’s better than Zidane,’ chanted the South Bank, and while the validity of that statement could be challenged, their optimism could not.
Wolves have now scored 10 goals in the opening 15 minutes in the Championship this season — more than any other team.
They looked unstoppable and United were soon 2-0 down. Cavaleiro turned provider again, this time for Jota. The striker rounded off a superb team move, calmly playing a one-two before firing past Moore.
There was controversy at the stroke of half-time when Helder Costa was fouled, which infuriated the home fans and their manager.
Refeee Darren Bond waved play on and replays showed he may have been right.
The Blades had been completely dominated and things didn’t change much after the interval. Wolves did almost allow the visitors back in when Ryan Bennett left debutant Ricky Holmes unmarked, but he could only slice his shot wide offbalance.
Wolves clinched the game after Moore came flying out of his goal and collided with Jota and was given his marching orders.
The resulting free-kick, taken by Cavaleiro, took a deflection off the wall and went beyond the reach of substitute keeper Jake Eastwood to compound the Blades’ misery. The winger was replaced by Afobe, who drew even louder cheers than when his name was announced before kick-off.
The Bournemouth loanee almost marked his latest Wolves debut with a goal, going close on two occasions, a matter of inches.
The 29,311 in attendance still had plenty to cheer, even warning local rivals Aston Villa about ‘minding the gap’ as Wolves built on last week’s victory over Ipswich Town with another accomplished performance.