Preview: Wolves v Leicester – Revenge over the Foxes?

Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers previews the clash.

Preamble

Wolves used to absolutely hate the EFL/League/Carabao/Rumbelows/Carling/Milk Cup.

They were unceremoniously dumped out in the early rounds, often by unfashionable lower league opposition, for 21 successive years, with a quarter final appearance in 1996 remaining their most recent enjoyable run in the competition.

That – as with a lot of things – was all changed by Nuno Espirito Santo last season who guided Wolves to the fourth round, via a fabulous 2-0 win away at Southampton, where they took Manchester City (Aguero, Sterling, Jesus etc) all the way to penalties where they were harshly beaten after a wonderful performance.

As last year, the tournament is way down Wolves' list of priorities.

But for the likes of John Ruddy, Kortney Hause, Romain Saiss and Morgan Gibbs-White – not to mention £18million club record signing Adama Traore – it represents their best chance of starting a game for the club, so they will be particularly keen to keep the run going for as long as possible.

Ruddy will also look to extend Wolves' remarkable sequence of not having conceded a goal in the competition since Nuno took charge.

Four games last season and the 2-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday last month have yielded precisely zero goals conceded. That's a run of 510 minutes and counting.

There's also the matter of getting revenge over the Foxes for last month's 2-0 league defeat.

The opposition

Leicester Mercury reporter James Sharpe told the Express & Star: "Claude Puel has already admitted he will be 'utlising his squad' for the contest. Don't be surprised if almost all of them alter.

"The only ones I can see perhaps keeping their place are Jonny Evans, who has only started two Premier League games and could do with a run, and maybe Jamie Vardy. His red card against Wolves means he's only started three matches this season and Puel may want to get some more match sharpness in his legs.

"I think we will also see a first-team debut for Turkey international centre-back Caglar Soyunu, who signed on deadline day in a £19m move from Freibug.

"Puel's main focus is to find the tricky balance between giving his fringe players game-time while also trying to pick a team strong enough to reach the next round. It's a competition in which Leicester have a proud history, winning three times."

Team news

There's a chance Ivan Cavaleiro could feature in a Wolves squad for the first time this season.

The 24-year-old has been sidelined since the end of July with a back problem but Nuno said on Friday that Cavaleiro is "starting to train almost 100 per cent with the team".

He's the only injury concern for Nuno, who made nine changes for the second round win over Wednesday and is likely to do something similar again.

That could mean Molineux debuts for £12million signing Leander Dendoncker and young Scottish academy midfielder Elliot Watt.

Leicester's only absentee is long-term injury victim Matty James.

Likely line ups

Wolves (3-4-3): Ruddy; Dendoncker, Coady, Hause; Doherty, Watt, Saiss, Vinagre; Traore, Bonatini, Gibbs-White. Subs: Norris, Bennett, Otto, Giles, Goncalves, Cavaleiro, Ashley-Seal.

Leicester City (4-2-3-1): Ward; Pereira, Evans, Soyuncu, Fuchs; Iborra, Silva; Albrighton, Okazaki, Gray; Vardy.

Key players

Wolves – Adama Traore

Traore is set to be unleashed from the off against Leicester and is Wolves’ obvious danger-man. The winger has been explosive so far.

Leicester – Demarai Gray

Former Blues winger who caused problems for the Wolves defence last month. The 22-year-old joined the Foxes halfway through their unbelievable title success in 2015/16 and has already played 106 times for the club.

The bosses

Nuno Espirito Santo: "What we want is to work harder because we have a game on Tuesday and then we go again on Saturday. It is the building of the team."

Claude Puel: "It is difficult and tough to play against this team because they use all the width and take space with quality and a good system. We will see on Tuesday but I am confident in my players."

Form

Wolves DWWWD

Sep 22: Manchester United 1 ( Fred 17) Wolves 1 (Moutinho 53)

Sep 16: Wolves 1 (Jimenez 61) Burnley 0

Sep 1: West Ham United 0 Wolves 1 (Traore 90)

Aug 28: Sheffield Wednesday 0 Wolves 2 (Bonatini 53, Costa pen 85) *Carabao Cup

Aug 25: Wolves 1 (Boly 53) Manchester City 1 (Laporte 69)

Leicester City WLLWW

Sep 22: Leicester City 3 (Iheanacho 19, Maddison 66, Vardy 75) Huddersfield Town 1 (Jorgensen 5)

Sep 15: Bournemouth 4 (Fraser 19, 37, King pen 41, Smith 81) Leicester City 2 (Maddison pen 88, Albrighton 89)

Sep 1: Leicester City 1 (Ghezzal 63) Liverpool 2 (Mane 10, Firmino 45)

Aug 28: Leicester City 4 (Fuchs 8, Iborra 39, Iheanacho 46, Ghezzal 71) Fleetwood Town 0 *Carabao Cup

Aug 25: Southampton 1 (Bertrand 52) Leicester City 2 (Gray 56, Maddison 90+2)

Past five meetings

Aug 18, 2018 (PL): Leicester City 2 (Doherty OG 29, Maddison 45) Wolves 0

Jan 31, 2013 (Ch): Leicester City 2 (Knockaert 24, Nugent 73) Wolves 1 (Sako 51)

Sep 16, 2012 (Ch): Wolves 2 (Ebanks-Blake 13, Stearman 21) Leicester City 0 (Konchesky 70)

Dec 22, 2007 (Ch): Wolves 1 (Jarvis 73) Leicester City 1 (Hume 4)

Oct 2, 2007 (Ch): Leicester 0 Wolves 0

Match odds

Wolves 5/4, draw 23/10, Leicester 9/4