Sheffield Wednesday: Carlos Carvalhal expecting to face a '˜lifted' Wolverhampton Wanderers side

Of all the players in Wolverhampton Wanderers' squad it is a safe bet that Carlos Carvalhal will have glanced his eye over the Portugal-based contingent.
Helder CostaHelder Costa
Helder Costa

Meticulous in his approach to the game, Carvalhal maintains an in-depth knowledge of football in his homeland.

Handy then, given Sheffield Wednesday today travel to Wolves, who have three players on loan from Portuguese giants Benfica.

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Of the trio – including Ola John and Joao Teixeira – the one to garner the most attention is Carvalhal’s compatriot Helder Costa, a wide forward who has netted four times this season.

Yet while he acknowledges the Portugal youth international as a threat, the Owls’ head coach says Wolves have plenty more to hurt his side.

“He’s a good player but he’s not the only one,” Carvalhal said.

“Wolves have brought in new players this season.

“They had very big expectations to go to the play-offs. At this moment they are not in a good position but they have brought in young players with good values.

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“They have players who are threats but we will try to exploit their weak points to damage them.”

Today will be new Wolves boss Paul Lambert’s first home game in charge and the Black Country side are expecting their biggest crowd in 18 months to Molineux.

Carvalhal has warned his side to expect a Wolves outfit lifted by the arrival of the former Norwich City and Aston Villa boss.

He said: “It will be a tough game. This is the second time we have played against a team who have changed their coach.

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“It is the coach’s first home game and these kind of things can give a little more energy to the team and the fans.

“It makes the game more difficult to the team who plays against them.

“Wolves performed well at Preston which is a tough place to go.

“But we are not too worried about our opponents.

“We are focusing on ourselves more than our opponents.”

Lambert will not be able to call upon club captain and popular former Wednesday loanee Danny Batth who is serving a one match suspension for picking up five bookings.

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Bolstering the crowd number at Molineux will be around 2,500 Wednesdayites whom Carvalhal claims will be key.

He said: “Sometimes the supporters are better than the team.

“They always perform at the highest level.

“They push out players a lot and we hear them on the pitch.

“It was important to the confidence of our team and the way that we play.

“We played with a big heart against Fulham last week and I expect the same at Wolves.”