Former Arsenal forward Paul Merson has previewed this weekend’s Premier League clash between Wolves and Luton Town at Molineux.
Wolves extended their winless run to six matches on Wednesday night with a disappointing 1-0 loss against Bournemouth as a controversial VAR decision reared its ugly head once more.
The decision to chalk off Hwang Hee-Chan‘s second-half equaliser caused mass outrage as several supporters and the wider footballing world called for VAR to be scrapped.
Looking past that terrible decision, the Wanderers weren’t good enough to warrant a result on the night, registering an xG of just 0.56 while Jose Sa’s heroics kept them in the game.
Gary O’Neil‘s men must put that result behind them and focus on a winnable fixture against Luton Town at Molineux. The visitors have won just one of their last 13 games and have been on the receiving end of 5-1 defeats against Brentford and Manchester City in their last two.
The Hatters’ abysmal run of form will fill O’Neil’s side with confidence in winning all three points while plunging Rob Edwards’ side deeper into trouble.
Paul Merson previews Wolves vs Luton Town
Wolves have been struck down by so many unfortunate injuries since the turn of the year and currently have multiple first-team players sidelined, including Craig Dawson, Santiago Bueno, Pedro Neto and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde.
In his preview of the game this weekend, Paul Merson has touched on Wolves injury troubles as the main factor behind their downfall but has predicted the Old Gold to get back to winning ways.
“Wolves have had five defeats and two draws in their last seven games. They’ve had a lot of injuries, but that is a dismal run of form. Luton Town were absolutely shocking against Brentford and got ripped to shreds. I watched that game and you can make a case for them not to win another football match this season, that’s how bad they were,” he said [Sportskeeda]
“Wolves are desperately out of form, but this is the game they can look at to return to winning ways.”
Prediction: Wolves 2-1 Luton Town
Wolves can exploit Luton Town’s porous defence
Luton are battling against relegation and in recent weeks, their ill-discipline defensively has seen them concede five goals each against Man City and Brentford.
The Hatters have been ripped open at will, particularly on the counter-attack, with the Bees front three of Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Keane Lewis-Potter running riot last weekend.
Edwards’ side have the second-worst defence in the Premier League with only Sheffield United (92) conceding more than their tally of 75 while ranking bottom for xGA (84.10).
Wolves – like Brentford – are a team who enjoy playing on the counter-attack and with the likes of Matheus Cunha and Hwang ready to pounce in transition, they will be licking their lips at the chance to exploit the visitors defensively.
Add the tricky and skilful Rayan Ait-Nouri into proceedings and the Wanderers do have the players to put Luton to the sword.
Although they have nothing to play for, they don’t want their season to fizzle out and getting back to winning ways here could kickstart a strong end to a positive campaign.