WOLVES PREVIEW

Sunderland return to Premier League action following the October international break, hosting Wolverhampton Wanderers. The visitors have been struggling so far this season but have had a small resurgence in recent weeks, going unbeaten in the last three in all competitions, and we’ll be looking to bounce back from a 2-0 defeat to Manchester United and to maintain both the gap between us and the bottom three and our unbeaten home record. Here’s the important information on our opponents:

FORM

In their last five matches, Wolves have won one (a 2-0 League Cup triumph over Everton), drawn two (a pair of 1-1 draws against Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton and Hove Albion) and lost two (1-0 versus Newcastle United and 3-1 versus Leeds United). In their most recent game, the 1-1 against Brighton, they took the lead inside the first 25 minutes via an own goal before an 86th minute equaliser from Jan Paul van Hecke forced them to settle for just the point. Notably, Vitor Pereira (their head coach) was sent to the stands during that one, so I’m presuming he’s not going to be in the dugout against us. I’ve not seen anyone actually confirm this though. The Old Gold sit bottom of the Premier League after seven matches with just two points, three from safety.

THE MANAGER

As mentioned 57-year-old Vitor Pereira is in charge of Wanderers and has been since December 2024. In his 34 games in charge, he’s overseen 14 wins, six draws and 14 losses. He’s been a journeyman during his managerial career, previously managing (brace yourselves for this), in the junior setup at Padroense, the same at Porto, Sanjoanense, Espinho, the junior setup at Porto (again), Santa Clara, then he was Porto’s assistant, then the main man, then he left Portugal to manage Al Ahli in Saudi Arabia, Olympiacos in Greece, Fenerbahce in Turkey, 1860 Munich in Germany, Shanghai SIPG in China, back to Fenerbahce, Corinthians in Brazil, Flamengo (Brazil again) and then (before Wolves) Al Shabab back in Saudi Arabia. Basically, he’s been everywhere and not stayed anywhere for longer than about three years. He was also a player, a midfielder, exclusively in his home country of Portugal, between 1986 and 1996. He’s won league titles in Portugal, Greece and China and was named Premier League Manager of the Month in April 2025.

KEY PLAYERS

32-year-old England international Sam Johnstone is their top choice goalkeeper, he’s so far failed to keep any clean sheets in the league but has kept one in the League Cup. Their joint-top goalscorers are left sided midfielder Rodrigo Gomes and Norway international striker Jorgen Strand Larsen, both with two goals each in all competitions. None of their players have registered more than one assist. New additions in the most recent transfer window include, the aforementioned Stran Larsen (who joined on a permanent deal following a loan move last season), Nigeria international striker Tolu Arokodare, attacking midfielder Fer Lopez and Columbia international right winger Jhon Arias.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

We have met Wolves on 122 occasions in all competitions over our history, winning 49 of those meetings, drawing 32 and losing 41. In our most recent five games, we’ve won one, drawn two and lost two. We last faced them in May 2018 in the Championship, coming away with a 3-0 victory courtesy of goals from Ovie Ejaria, Ashley Fletcher and Paddy McNair. The latest Premier League meeting between the two sides was in April 2012, a 0-0 stalemate at the Stadium of Light. Our last win in the Premier League against Wolves was in September 2009 (also in front of home support), we won that match 5-2. Kenwyne Jones scored a brace and there were goals from Darren Bent and Michael Turner too, plus an own goal from Michael Mancienne.

PREDICTION

Wolves seem to be a difficult team to break down once they’ve scored, it took Brighton until the 86th minute to rescue a point and Tottenham until the 94th. In fact only one of their defeats (the 3-1 against Leeds) saw them score first. Every other game in which they’ve been the first on the scoresheet they’ve managed to come away with something. Still, they haven’t won yet in the league and they should be missing their manager for this one. The longer they go without seeing victory the more desperate they’ll get. The key here is to score first, if we do that I’ll be confident of getting another win on the board. My prediction is 1-0 to Sunderland, I might be more confident if Omar Alderete and Noah Sadiki were guaranteed starters though.