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Nuno wants Wolves to raise their standards

Nuno Espirito Santo has told his Wolves players to raise their standards further as they aim to keep up the momentum in the Europa League.

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Wolves, after beating Watford 2-0 to pick up their first Premier League victory of the season on Saturday, travel to Turkey to face Besiktas on Thursday.

Nuno felt the Hornets triumph was thoroughly deserved – and the onus is on using it as a springboard as they look to make up for losing the opening Group K game against Braga.

“We won the game, and I thought we were the better team," he said.

"Our fans saw a good game, and we now have to raise our standards and improve.

“On Thursday, we play against Besiktas. It’s tough.

"But this is the reality. You play Thursday, and you travel. Not only me, every manager and team that is involved in European competition.

"This is the growth of a natural thing. We started in the Championship, we had more difficulties in the Premier League, and now we are competing on Thursday and Sunday.”

Being involved in the competition has thrown up some difficulties, with the main one being that Wolves have much less time on the training pitch than they did last campaign.

And Nuno says his charges are learning to adjust on the fly.

“We have to grow and improve when we are on the field, we don’t have time on the training ground," he said.

"We are recovering and playing, so you have to do other things to improve your performance. This is a new thing for a lot of the players.

“You have to travel I don’t know how many miles. Big teams do it, we are doing this now, and we want to embrace it.

“We are doing well, and all the squad is ready to go. It’s tough, it’s difficult."

Diogo Jota could play in Istanbul despite sitting out the Watford clash.

He was not risked because of a foot injury picked up before the 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace, although Jota played in that game and scored the all-important leveller in stoppage-time.

"Diogo had a knock before the game of Crystal Palace. He played but was not totally right, so we decided not to involve him in this game (against Watford)," added Nuno.

"Let's see if he can be involved on Thursday."