Wolves vs Arsenal - Liam Keen and Nathan Judah preview
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00:00Hello, I'm Nathan Judo, I'm here with Wolves Report, it is Mr Liam Keane. Liam, we've just
00:04heard from Vito Pereira, head of the game, and it's a massive game, it is against Arsenal
00:08Football Club, 3 o'clock on Saturday at Molineux. Let's, before we get onto the team news, let's
00:13talk about Mateus Cunha, because obviously he's the man in the headlines at this moment
00:17in time. What do you have to say about the future and, I guess, availability of Mateus
00:22Cunha?
00:23Yeah, Vito was pretty strong, said that he had a conversation with the player, the player's
00:27100% committed to the cause here at Wolverhampton. He said he's got no thoughts at all about
00:33leaving and that, as far as the club are concerned, he is 100% not for sale, which stacks up with
00:38everything we've been told. It would take, as we say on the podcast, a monumental offer
00:42for anything to change there, and the player is absolutely 100% committed. So it seemed
00:46like a pretty good conversation, seemed like a constructive conversation, and they're going
00:50to need him tomorrow, aren't they?
00:51Well, they are, and look, he's going to have to be at his very best, isn't he? He can't
00:53be what he showed on Monday night, but Mateus Cunha, playing like we know Mateus Cunha can
00:58play, gives Wolves the best chance of victory, and look, they need to get something from
01:02this game, don't they? I know it's obviously very difficult against a very good Arsenal
01:05side, but Arsenal are missing a few players, and you've got to think that if Wolves are
01:09on it, and that atmosphere can be one of the famous atmospheres that we know and love,
01:14that Wolves could do something.
01:15Yeah, this team have had special moments since being back in the Premier League, and in there
01:19this is the seventh season, isn't it? Back up. They've had special moments, they've had
01:23one under Pereira, a particular special moment at home to Man United on Boxing Day. They're
01:28more than capable of getting results. It's not going to be easy, but we know Arsenal
01:31can be flaky at times, they've got injuries, set pieces is a massive thing to watch out
01:35for because they are very good from that, and Wolves we know are not particularly good
01:37at defending them.
01:38And they can't seem to this season.
01:40Yeah, only a few. But Wolves have got quality, Wolves do have quality. I did put out a piece
01:44like this morning saying, look, as much as the players need to be there with the fans,
01:48the fans are going to have to play their part as well. But the players have got to
01:51give them a reason to be up for it. It's got the potential to be a really good afternoon
01:55for Wolves. As hard as it is, it's got the potential to be there, and they are going
01:59to need some of these moments to pick up enough points to stay in the league.
02:01And Vito Pereira very much backing his players vocally, wasn't he?
02:04Yeah, yeah. He was asked directly about finding the balance between obviously openly criticising
02:08your players and not, and I thought it was a really nice line when he said, you know,
02:12I can sleep at night by being honest, which I thought was a really good comment. But then
02:16he did spend the majority of the rest of the press conference completely defending them
02:20and backing them, which is what we sort of expected today, really. And he said, look,
02:23I want to see that fire in their eyes. I want to see that they've got the confidence knowing
02:27they can go there tomorrow and win tomorrow. And of course they can. This is a Premier
02:31League football club we're talking about. We're Premier League footballers. They can
02:34go there and they can beat an Arsenal side. As I say, that can be, that can blow hot and
02:38cold despite all their quality.
02:41And look, Vito Pereira is still learning about his players. He's talked about being in the
02:45eye of the storm and he's finding his fighters. He's finding his leaders. What we forget
02:50sometimes is that, yes, they've had a lot of games under Vito Pereira, but he's only
02:53been here for a month.
02:55Absolutely. Look, he was asked about those personalities, about having time to get to
03:00know people. Can you imagine walking in and having to get to know 30-odd people? And that's
03:04just players pretty much.
03:05Well, I'm pretty good with names, normally.
03:06Yeah, very good with names. There's no people we work with.
03:08I've got no idea of some of the people around us.
03:10And yeah, it's not an easy job. It's not a 9-5, put it that way. And you have to go in
03:16there and try to understand how characters react as well. Maybe slightly misjudged it
03:21a little bit recently, but I think based on what we've seen there, he's not going to necessarily
03:26change who he is, but maybe adapt how he goes about it, which is probably the right way
03:31to do it.
03:33I agree. In terms of team news, what are we looking like? Are any players coming back
03:36or available for selection again?
03:37So, fortunately, we're only talking about two players at the moment, which is good news
03:40for Vitor Pereira, unless there's a player that's injured that we don't know about. Totti
03:43Gomez is going to be in the squad, or we expect him to be in the squad, after his hamstring
03:47injury. He hasn't played since Boxing Day. He did say that he's very unlikely to be able
03:51to last 90 minutes because of not being ready, really, for the first game back. I have got
03:56him in my predicted team, more out of necessity, maybe, because I think he fits the system
04:02really well. I think Wolves have missed him, but he may be on the bench for this one. The
04:05other one I asked about was Bibicar Troiore, who played for the 21s the other night. He
04:09didn't play too many minutes. He started the game and came off. He will be playing another
04:1321s game soon, Vitor said, and then after that they're hoping he can be in contention
04:18for a Premier League squad.
04:19I got so nervous that I thought something was going to fall on me. In terms of team,
04:25in terms of selection, you said you've got Totti in. Any other changes?
04:30Maybe slightly misjudged to put him in, but I've gone with it anyway, and I've gone
04:33with Genes coming back in for Sarabia. I think that has to be a relatively obvious
04:37one, and I'd be surprised if it's not the change that's made.
04:40Shall we do our predictions that we did on the podcast?
04:42Ooh, yeah, go on then.
04:43I said Wilhelmus Wanderers 2, Famous Victory, Arsenal 1.
04:47Liam?
04:47I really hope you're right. I have got Arsenal. I'm going to have to whisper it. 1-0 Arsenal.
04:53I desperately hope I'm wrong, but I'm just expecting a bit of a stinker.
04:57Won't be the first time this week. See you tomorrow.