Wolves face an out-of-form Southampton in the FA Cup on Thursday and Jake Pearson thinks the home side could inflict more misery on the Saints.
Football betting tips: FA Cup
1pt Wolves to beat Southampton in 90 minutes at 6/4
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Wolves v Southampton
- 17:30 GMT on BT Sport 1
- Match odds: Home 7/5 | Draw 21/10 | Away 2/1
In a similar vein to the way their season has panned out, Wolves have not had the smoothest passages to the FA Cup fifth round.
Nuno Espírito Santo’s men opened their FA Cup campaign with a tricky tie at home to fellow Premier League side Crystal Palace, the sixth consecutive time Wolves have been drawn against top-flight opposition in the third round of the FA Cup.
They overcame the Eagles thanks to a sublime strike from Adama Traore, setting up a visit to National League Chorley, but Nuno’s side were given a much tougher game than they might have expected, again needing a great individual goal, this time from Vitinha, to come away with a 1-0 victory.
This may only be the second time in four years Wolves have progressed past the third round, but a win here would make it two quarter-final appearances in three seasons.
After two incredible campaigns in the Premier League, the Old Gold are going through their first real blip since returning to the top flight, currently finding themselves 14th and not performing anywhere near the levels they have been for the past couple of years.
It is easy to see why this has happened.
The hugely influential Diogo Jota was sold to Liverpool at the beginning of the season, and Wolves have since suffered a couple of serious injuries.
Raúl Jiménez's fractured skull is the obvious one, but Jonny Castro’s knee injury was a big blow as Wolves went six months without a player who was, at his peak, one of the best full-backs in the division.
Jonny made a welcome return to action against Leicester on Sunday and his presence will be a huge boost for the rest of the season.
There have been signs of late that Wolves have started to turn the corner, the aforementioned stalemate against Leicester can be considered a positive result against a team in good form, while their previous fixture saw them complete a league double over Arsenal.
The Gunners admittedly had to play the entire second half with 10 men, but that will have done Wolves’ confidence no harm, and Nuno’s side now come into this game unbeaten in two.
From a team higher on confidence than they arguably have been all season then, to a team whose confidence has been shot to bits in recent weeks.
Southampton will be desperately seeking some kind of result to get them out of their current slump, one initiated by a 9-0 shellacking at the hands of Manchester United.
Two early goals for Newcastle at the weekend will have done little to boost the Saints’ confidence either, and though they did play better following Jeff Hendrick’s sending off, that result means it is four defeats in four for Ralph Hasenhüttl's team.
People constantly point towards the Saints’ 9-0 defeat to Leicester last season as the turning point in their campaign, but Southampton didn’t produce the immediate reaction to that result that most think they did.
In fact, it took a further four matches before they regained the winning thread. It takes a while to get over losing by nine goals, it would seem.
In the FA Cup this season, though, Southampton have performed well, comfortably avoiding an upset against Shrewsbury in the third round, before a Kyle Walker-Peters deflected shot saw them sneak past Arsenal 1-0 last month.
This could be the end of the road for the Saints however, with Wolves expected to prove an extremely tough nut to crack.
Nuno rarely makes a plethora of changes, whether that be down to the relatively small size of his squad, or just for continuity purposes, but it is unlikely he will field a team of second-string players.
Wolves are the team with their tails up coming into this tie, and while it is expected to be tight, they should have enough quality to snatch victory and progress to the quarter-finals in 90 minutes, which I'm happy to back at a best price of 6/4 with Betfair.
Score prediction: Wolves 1-0 Southampton (Sky Bet odds: 13/2)
Wolves v Southampton tips
Odds correct at 1100 GMT (09/02/21)
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