Espanyol win already in Wolves boss Nuno’s rear-view mirror

Nuno’s troops had another historic night under the Molineux lights on Thursday when they defeated La Liga’s bottom side Espanyol 4-0 in the Europa League last-32 first leg.

Despite an impressive display from his side, head coach Nuno has already put the result to the back of his mind as his side welcome bottom-placed Norwich tomorrow.

“What we did before doesn’t mean anything, we don’t live by momentum,” he said. “We live by competing.

“We take that and focus on the game and it’s going to be very tough as Norwich have a good team with very good players, quality players who play a game of possession and create problems.

“It’s a challenge as we face a quality team. So, let’s try to be organised as we were on Thursday and, if possible, better.”

With a quick turnaround from Thursday to Sunday, Nuno is adamant his side will be ready despite the challenging schedule.

“It’s always a challenge when you’re competing like we have since July, always a tight schedule,” he added. “We have good routines and good character of the players, so they will be ready.”

The second-half rout of Espanyol, where Wolves scored three of their four goals, gave the manager a chance to withdraw some of his top talents.

Raul Jimenez and hat-trick hero Diogo Jota were taken off later in the game, while Adama Traore was replaced after an hour and replaced by Leander Dendoncker, meaning the team changed formation to a 5-3-2.

However, Nuno revealed after the game that the decision was tactical. “It was to give new ideas and it was clear the team improved so it was good for us,” he said. “For Sunday is not the point. We decided the game needed another solution, we didn’t think about the game on Sunday.”

When quizzed on whether Traore’s shoulder issue was causing him problems again, Nuno added: “It’s fine.” One of the stand-out performers from a dominant second half was Ruben Neves who shone in the centre of midfield.

His superb volley – Wolves’ second goal – set them on their way to a comprehensive victory and the 22-year-old was ‘proud’ of the team’s showing.

“Thursday was a very special night, it would have a big crowd and of course the result was really good,” he said. “It was an almost perfect second half.

“Four goals in a clean sheet at home give us lots of motivation for the second leg.

“I enjoyed my goal, of course I did. It’s always good to score. I enjoy every goal I score.

“But the team did a great job after the first half that was not so good. I’m really proud of everybody.”

His sights are now set on Norwich where the club will look to do the double over them after a 2-1 win away in December.

“We will always try to win every game, but we will be at home again with this fantastic atmosphere.

“In the away game, if you remember it was a really tough game, we really struggled in the first half. We had to adjust something in the second half and fortunately we were able to get the three points, Norwich made that a really hard game for us.”

Wolves likely XI: Patricio; Boly, Coady (c), Saiss; Doherty, Moutinho, Neves, Otto; Traore, Jimenez, Jota