By winning at second placed Cardiff on Friday, Wolves have put themselves on the brink of securing both automatic promotion and the Championship title. They have home games against Derby on Wednesday and Birmingham on Sunday, and if they win them both then promotion is assured, and dependant on other results the title may be too.
Villa’s defeat at Norwich at the weekend means they can’t catch Wolves now and they need to beat Cardiff at Villa Park on Tuesday to retain any serious hope of automatic promotion. Cardiff meanwhile, following the home defeat by Wolves are now under pressure to retain an automatic promotion position due to the continued good form of Fulham. In fact, if Cardiff fail to win at Villa Park on Tuesday, and Fulham get their expected win at home to Reading then Fulham will move up to 2nd place in the table, although Cardiff have played a game less. Fulham though are on sparkling form and have an easier run in than Cardiff so are probably favourites now for the second automatic promotion position.
As to how that all affects Wolves, well if Fulham did get anything less than a win against Reading on Tuesday, then Wolves can secure promotion by beating Derby on Wednesday evening. Then Fulham play at home to Brentford on Saturday teatime live on sky, and anything less than a win there and Wolves will secure promotion without even playing that day. But even if Fulham do win both their home games this week then Wolves will be promoted anyway if they can get 6 points against Derby and Birmingham.
The Wednesday game at Molineux looks a far from easy game for Wolves. After a run of poor results, Derby have come back to form at the right time to clinch a play off spot by winning at Preston last week and then 3-0 at home to Bolton on Saturday. They look a decent bet to make the playoffs now, although Middlesbrough and Millwall are also on good form and are breathing down their necks.
Looking beyond the result at Cardiff on Friday it was a surprise team selection by Nuno on the day with Afobe and Bonatini preferred to Costa and Cavaleiro. And as Cardiff were the better team for most of the first half, it wasn’t a selection that worked particularly well. It would be a surprise if the same forward line turned out on Wednesday, particularly as Costa, Cavaleiro and indeed N’Diaye all made an impact when they came off the bench in the second half.
But after 41 games of the season, what Wolves fans do trust is that Nuno will come up with the right answers and that will very soon now lead to promotion being confirmed, and more than likely being confirmed with Wolves as Champions.
