Wolverhampton Wanderers will be hoping to carry on their good form when they play AFC Bournemouth this afternoon, especially with the south coast club struggling near the bottom of the Premier League table.
The Old Gold have defeated Southampton and Liverpool in their two most recent league matches, moving Julen Lopetegui’s team away from the drop zone. They now could push towards mid-table, which seems nothing short of remarkable considering where they were under Bruno Lage for the first two months of the campaign.
Joao Gomes rescued ten-man Wolves with a late winner against the Saints, and his performance could well gain him a place in the starting XI ahead of today’s match. However, a cameo by Adama Traore last week may well have thrust him into Lopetegui’s thoughts, given how impressive he was when coming off the bench at St Mary’s.
Will Adama Traore start against Bournemouth?
The £55k-per-week winger hasn’t enjoyed the most productive of seasons, scoring twice and grabbing just one assist, having been in and out of the starting XI under both Lage and Lopetegui.
There is no doubting his creative ability, though, with the Spain winger ranking in the top 1% of positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues for progressive carries (7.21 per 90) and successful take-ons (four), and also in the top 8% for aerial duels won (1.64 per 90), as per FBref.
These returns clearly prove that, when the 27-year-old is fit and hungry, his physical presence and sheer ability to take on defenders and cause chaos makes him a very difficult opponent to contain.
Jurgen Klopp once dubbed him “unplayable”, and the German got to witness his talents firsthand a couple of weeks ago when Wolves claimed a stunning 3-0 victory over Liverpool at Molineux, with Traore in full swing that day.
The 27-year-old was an absolute menace despite playing for just 48 minutes, contributing an assist, two key passes and one successful cross and creating two big chances as he sought to prove his worth to Lopetegui.
A week later against Southampton, another cameo by Traore led to him taking two shots, succeeding with four dribbles, taking 38 touches and winning seven ground duels, all of which played a major part in Wolves claiming three points despite being a man and a goal down for much of the game.
Those two performances will surely have caught his manager’s eye, and the winger deserves to start against Bournemouth today. Gary O’Neil’s men have conceded the most goals of any team in the Premier League this term, which could give Lopetegui the licence to line up with his strongest attacking players, and the rapid Traore would surely love an opportunity to terrorise the Cherries’ defence from the first whistle.