Julen Lopetegui begins his reign at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday, as the Premier League giants play in the round of 16 against Gillingham. The pressure will be on the top-flight team as they look to recover after an extremely slow start to the Premier League season.
EFL Cup Preview
The round of 16 in the EFL Cup takes place this week, as the domestic action in England resumes following the World Cup. One of the standout ties at this stage will take place at Molineux Stadium on Tuesday, as Wolves look to get the Lopetegui reign off to a perfect start. The Spanish coach was announced as the new manager during the international break, and he has already overseen two friendlies.
The latest of those was a dramatic 4-3 success against Cadiz last Wednesday. Wolves have been in strong form in the EFL Cup since the tournament got underway, as they entered the competition in the second round. Both previous fixtures have been played at home, with Wolves claiming a 2-1 win against Preston in the second round, before they edged to a 1-0 success against Leeds United in the previous round.
This will be a big test for Gillingham in the EFC Cup on Tuesday, as the travelling side come into this fixture sitting 24th in League Two. It has been a disappointing season to this point for the team, as they have recorded just two victories from 20 fixtures. They are also the lowest scorers in the Football League, having found the net on just six occasions.
Gillingham’s previous fixture came in the FA Cup, as they claimed a 3-2 win against Dag & Red on December 8th. They have needed penalties in each of the previous two rounds, but they recorded a famous success in the previous round, as they edged past Premier League Brentford in November.
Wolves vs Gillingham Head to Head
This is the first meeting between the sides since January 2014. On that occasion, Gillingham claimed a 1-0 win against Wolves in League One. However, Wolves have won three of the previous four home matches that they have played against their League Two opponents.
Wolves vs Gillingham Prediction
It has been an excellent run to this stage of the competition by Gillingham, but we expect their EFL Cup momentum to come to an end against Wolves. We can see the Premier League side recording a 2-0 win.
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