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As we enter the Christmas period David J asks “What are Wolves’ Odds now?”

Jackett Targets a Win to Rekindle Title Hopes

Wolverhampton Wanderers showed immense strength, as a club, in order to survive two successive relegations that left the club in the League One last season. They have since gained promotion back to the Championship after winning the League One. The biggest surprise for many has been Wolves challenging for top spot in the Championship immediately upon their return. Their form has cooled off in recent weeks and they find themselves in the 12th spot after 19 matches.   Manager Kenny Jackett, though, says that promotion to the Premier League still remains a possibility this season. Wolves odds, though, have stretched from 6/1 in Betfair’s latest Championship promotion odds for the 2014/15 season.

The early-season optimism has certainly faded away after the four consecutive league defeats.  In fact, Wolves have managed only two wins since the start of October. This is closer to relegation form, but the club can take positives from the league table. It shows Wolves trailing Blackburn Rovers, who are in the final play-off spot, by just four points. Given the unpredictable nature of the Championship, it would not be surprising to see Wolves go on a winning run. Confidence appears rock bottom at the moment, but it only needs a win to change the mood within the camp.

Despite the long history of English football in its current format, only two teams have managed to go from League One to the Premier League within two seasons. Norwich City achieved the feat in the 2010-11 campaign while Southampton matched it a year later.

It is an often held belief that promotion much earlier than expected will also be damaging to the club. The phrase ‘too much, too soon’ often gets mentioned at teams starting at an unlikely promotion to the English top division. Norwich can vouch for this to a certain extent, as they have slipped back into the Championship.   Southampton are a different story, as they find themselves second in the Premier League after 12 matches.

Wolves, though, need a return to the Premier League in order to maintain the club’s stature. Financially, they will start to feel the effects of the parachute payments running out.

The fight towards promotion needs to start this weekend.  After Wolves took on Brentford at Griffin Park on Saturday, a fixture took place in League One last season and a dominant Wolves team came away with a 3-0 win, the Bees took their revenge with a 4-0 thumping. Several things have changed dramatically since that match in February, as Brentford also managed to get promotion to the Championship. They struggled to match Wolves’ form during the early part of the campaign, but they are now one of the inform teams in the division after having won four on the trot.  Next up, another surprise team lead by Eddie Howe, as the Cherries come to Molineux.

Jackett says that Wolves will be paying respect to the form of their opposition.  He says that the team has been strengthened a lot, especially in the forward areas, and he expects a difficult match. Just as the Wolves manager complements the attack of the opposition, he will also be worried about his team’s ability to find the back of the net. Wolves plunged into a negative goal difference after the recent run of poor results. The club has managed only one goal in last four matches and this will be a source of major concern for Jackett.

The club has already begun work towards strengthening the team, especially in the attack, in the January transfer window. Attempts though to bring in  Northampton Town striker Ivan Toney foundered when he failed his medical.  The 18-year-old has scored four goals in League Two and he was expected to provide cover for Rajiv van La Parra and Nouha Dicko. Amongst the current crop of forwards at the club, only the injured Dicko has looked half decent with three goals in 13 league matches.   Midfielder Bakary Sako has again been brilliant in this campaign, but he has not scored since the goal against Middlesbrough last month.

Jackett also says that he may have to rely upon another youngster, Kortney Hause, in order to plug a leaky defence. The 19-year-old has just been recalled from his loan spell at Gillingham. He is yet to make an appearance for Wolves despite being on the books for almost a year. He was signed for around €60,000 from Wycombe Wanderers, but Jackett surprised many by admitting that he knew little about the player before sanctioning the purchase.  Hause has been a regular for Gillingham this season.  Even though the League One outfit are struggling near the bottom of the table, Hause has been receiving a lot of plaudits. He has featured in 14 league matches and scored one goal and was sitting in with the Wolves fans at Brentford

Hause’s performances for Gillingham has resulted in a call up for the England under 20 team. Danny Batth and Richard Stearman have been the preferred centre back partnership for the club this campaign although Stearman has been dropped for academy graduate Ethan Ebanks-Landell, who is himself now injured. They have been flanked by Scott Golbourne and Matt Doherty. The presence of Hause becomes important considering that Batth could potentially get an automatic one match suspension should he received a booking against Brentford. He has accumulated four yellow cards so far this campaign.

Also on the horizon are the returns of Bjorn Sigurdarson and Kevin Doyle, although neither are eligible until January to solve the striking problems.

On Saturday Betfair gave odds of 13/10 for a home victory for Brentford’s fifth consecutive in the league. Wolves, unsurprisingly, were backed at a distant 19/10, while the possibility of a stalemate remained and a draw was backed at 12/5.   While Wolves’ odds have stretched, Bournemouth’s have shortened considerably and Betfair will almost certainly offer more generous odds for a home win for Saturday’s match.

The recent defensive woes have put the limelight on defender Roger Johnson, who continues to be overlooked by the manager. Jackett recently confirmed that he still has no plans to put the defender back into the first-team.  Since Johnson has been unable to force his way back into the team even during such a troubled period, it is likely that he may demand a transfer in January to look for first-team opportunities elsewhere. The 31-year-old is yet to feature this season.