Sideways Sammy

Coventry City are back on track in the league after two successive victories but are even closer to a genuine achievement this campaign in the FA Cup, where if they can defeat Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers, they will secure a trip to Wembley and almost certainly a tie against one of the country’s biggest teams. As important as securing a return to the top-flight is, an FA Cup semi-final could well prove to be a more era-defining achievement. Opportunities like this don’t come up often.

Nonetheless, an away trip to a top-half Premier League side is a significant hurdle in and of itself. Wolverhampton Wanderers are an established top-flight side that are enjoying one of their best seasons in recent years under the management of Gary O’Neil. They will be viewing this as a great opportunity to cement the progress they have made this campaign with possible silverware. This is certainly going to be the biggest test Coventry City have faced all season.

Expected Line-Up

After back-to-back wins, Mark Robins is not going to change the 3-4-1-2 set-up that achieved those results, even if there are concerns about the performance levels against teams that are significantly worse than the opposition Coventry City are set to face. There are a few places in the side up for grabs, with one of the key questions regarding team selection heading into this game being whether the manager makes the usual changes he’d make for a cup tie or chooses his strongest XI.

The decision to stick with the strongest possible side is made easier by the fact that Coventry City have had a week’s rest since their last game and have just under a two-week break until their next league fixture. That means that any marginal concerns over fitness may be disregarded here, putting Ben Sheaf and Victor Torp in the frame to start together for just a second time for the Sky Blues. Elsewhere, there is little reason to make changes.

The biggest decision is likely to be whether Brad Collins remains in goal as the first-choice or Ben Wilson gets a run-out as the allotted cup goalkeeper. Given that Wilson has just had a spell in the team, the need to play him to keep him fresh is reduced, allowing Collins to build some form after winning his place back.

The other likely call looks to be between Kasey Palmer and Callum O’Hare in the attacking midfield role. O’Hare has been dropped for recent games, with Palmer doing little to make that position his own with the opportunity he’s been handed. Given that Palmer tends to leave the midfield open by staying high up the pitch out of possession, O’Hare’s greater energy without the ball could be more value here against a high quality opponent. It’s also possible that the manager may opt to start both in order to provide an extra body in midfield, with Haji Wright the chief candidate to drop out of the attack.

Last Time We Met

Wolverhampton Wanderers rocked up to Sixfields back in 2014 in a party mood, having already secured promotion and the League One title during a year-long sojourn in the third-tier after back-to-back relegations had shattered the club. Meanwhile, Coventry City, off the back of a post-Leon Clarke, tailspin during that year in exile in Northampton, needed a result to ensure what had once looked a play-off bid didn’t turn into relegation. It set up a dull contest between a Wolves side with little to play for and a Sky Blues outfit that was shot of confidence.

When Wolves took the lead in front of an away support that outnumbered the ‘home’, with Dave Edwards turning in a Bakary Sako cross, that looked to be that. However, from pretty much the next phase of play, Mark Marshall teased in a cross from a set-piece that was headed into his own goal by Danny Batth to secure a share of the points, with the goal somehow credited to one of the many failed Leon Clarke replacements, Nathan Delfouneso. The share of the points meant Wolves reached triple figures for the campaign, while that was enough to secure safety for Coventry City.

The Opposition

The Manager – Gary O’Neil

After leading a Bournemouth side that looked destined for relegation from the Premier League last season to safety in relative comfort, Gary O’Neil was sacked in favour of the ambitious appointment of Andoni Iraola, seemingly ending an early opportunity in his managerial career to establish himself in the top flight. When Julen Lopetegui walked out on Wolverhampton Wanderers on the dawn of the new campaign over disputes concerning the club’s lack of spending, O’Neil was available to receive another hospital pass and has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt this campaign that he is a Premier League quality manager.

Dealing with a squad that narrowly avoided relegation last season and had to sell key players in Ruben Neves and Matheus Nunes to keep within Financial Fair Play regulations, Gary O’Neil has drilled Wolverhampton Wanderers expertly to minimise their limitations and highlight their strengths. With the team featuring some highly skilful individual attacking players, O’Neil has made Wolves a lightning quick team either on the break or targeting specific opponents with pressing. They are a motivated and well-managed team that are greater than the sum of their parts.

Who To Look Out For?

Wolverhampton Wanderers head into this game missing almost all of their key attacking players, in top scorer, Hwang Hee-chan, winger, Pedro Neto, and the mercurial, Matheus Cunha. Nonetheless, they still possess individuals who can take the game from Coventry City with a flick of the boot, with Pablo Sarabia’s ability to orchestrate play from an advanced role set to be the team’s key source of creativity in this game, while left-back, Rayan Ait-Nouri impressed last time out when pushed into an attacking wide right role.

The strength of this Wolves outfit is their physicality and work-rate in midfield and defence, with Mario Lemina and Joao Gomes covering large distances in the centre of the park to ensure their team gets on top in games while demonstrating some individual skill of their own when they have the opportunity to. Max Kilman in central defence continues to mature as a leader and is someone with an outside shot of making the England team over the next few years, while Jose Sa in goal goes under the radar as one of the better goalkeepers in the top-flight.

Wolves will be hoping that some of their younger players can take the opportunity here at home to lower league opposition to build some confidence at first-team level. Chief among Wolves’ young hopefuls is Nathan Fraser up front, an academy produced striker who has been forced to start games of late due to the team’s injury crisis and has been doing a decent job leading the line with energy and a touch of a physical presence, albeit, he hasn’t quite been able to get into scoring positions yet. Defensive midfielder, Boubacar Traore, may also be involved here, with left-back Hugo Bueno, and Noha Lemina – younger brother of the aforementioned, Mario – other candidates for minutes off the bench depending on how the game is going.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

As positive as it was for Coventry City to win their last two games, the concern is that in both matches – the last one, especially – the 3-4-1-2 shape invited the opposition onto them and that against a much higher quality team in this game, Wolverhampton Wanderers will be able to take advantage of that with little response from the Sky Blues. This game is going to come down to the defence being able to defend the penalty area as the opposition look to pull them apart with possession and what threat Coventry can offer on the counter.

On the first point, this really is a big game for the trio of Bobby Thomas, Joel Latibeaudiere and Liam Kitching to mature as a defensive trio. Latibeaudiere should be able to keep a close eye on Nathan Fraser up front for Wolverhampton Wanderers, the concern is how Thomas and Kitching deal with potentially being drawn into one-against-ones versus skilful, Premier League quality wide players. The wing-backs are likely going to have to drop back to help reduce instances where Thomas and Kitching are isolated, but there are likely to be situations where the two wide centre-backs are going to have to time their challenges well to avoid Wolves carving Coventry City open.

At the other end, Ellis Simms and Haji Wright – if started in a strike pairing – are going to have to produce close to a 90-minute performance as a genuine strike pairing having shown brief five-ten minute spells as a duo over the past couple of games. This is not only going to be a test of Simms and Wright’s physical quality to tussle with a higher calibre of centre-back but their technical ability, those occasional heavy touches could really kill off Coventry City’s hopes in this game. Behind them, Callum O’Hare’s greater mobility and ball-carrying ability really should make him first choice here, but he will have to deal with the closer physical inspection of his qualities that Wolves’ robust midfield duo of Joao Gomes and Mario Lemina will provide in marking him.