This afternoon, the Wanderers travel to Kenilworth Road. Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Gary O’Neil believes his squad ‘needs’ to win against Luton Town this afternoon at Kenilworth Road.
The visitors, like Town, have had a difficult start to their Premier League campaign, with only three points from five games, including defeats to Manchester United, Brighton, and Liverpool. They now face a Hatters team that, despite improving game by game, is now bottom of the table with four losses from four games.
With that in mind, O’Neil, who was appointed just days before the season began in place of Julen Lopetegui, emphasized the necessity of earning up points against a team that many consider to be a strong relegation candidate.
“We feel they are a team that we can have a really good go against,” he remarked on the club’s official website.
“There are certain games in this league – and we’ve had a few of them already, Manchester United away, Liverpool at home, and even Brighton with the way they’re going – where you know you have to be at your best and everything has to go your way to be successful.”
“They go front to back very quickly, are a threat from set-plays, and Luton itself, the stadium and the feel of the place is different to most that you face in the Premier League.
“The atmosphere and the feel of the game will be something that the players need to cope with as well and they’re well prepped for and understand.
“The lads know what Luton are going to pose for us and the best way to come out on top.”
The visitors don’t have any real injury concerns for the contest either, despite making a number of alterations to their preparation since O’Neil, who was harshly sacked by Bournemouth in the summer despite keeping the Cherries up, took over from the departing Lopetegui He added: “Everyone’s good, which is obviously important because we’ve changed the training structure.
“When you do that sometimes you can pick up some injuries and niggles during that changeover spell and nothing’s happened yet, so the boys are in a good spot.
“‘Hodgy’ (Joe Hodge) will be back in and around it and has been training for a few days, which is encouraging, and the rest of the players appear to be fine.”
“I’m not sure about the length or duration, but the intensity is definitely higher, and comparing the numbers they were producing before I arrived to what we’re doing now, training is a little more intense than it was.”
“We just do things slightly differently than they did, so there was an adaptation that needed to happen, and hopefully we’ll start to see the fitness benefit of that.”
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