Should silverware be the next target for Wolves under the tenure of Nuno Espirito Santo?

Wolverhampton Wanderers host fellow Premier League outfit Crystal Palace on Friday night in the third round of the FA Cup. The West-Midlands side have had an inconsistent opening 17 games in the league this term, finding themselves 13th. So could a cup run prove to be the perfect distraction?

The progress of Wolves under Nuno Espirito Santo since he was appointed three-and-a-half-years ago has been rapid, to say the least. 

The Portuguese took a team that had finished 15th in the second-tier the previous season straight to the Championship title in his first campaign. Since then, two 7th place finishes in the Premier League and a run to the Europa League quarter-finals have followed.

In their first season back in the top-flight, the four-time FA Cup winners also reached the semi-final of the competition. Arguably, they should’ve reached the final having been 2-0 up against Watford, only to concede twice in normal time and then the decisive third in extra-time.

They’ve gotten promoted, they’ve impressed in the Premier League and they’ve had a decent run in Europe…so should silverware be the next target?

Without a major trophy in almost 41 years (the 1979/80 League Cup), it’s certainly something that will have been on the mind of Wolves’ ambitious hierarchy. They want their team to be competitive, and this season’s FA Cup could provide a decent platform for that.

Of course, you can’t win a trophy without a bit of luck, particularly when it comes to the draws made. With an outfit competing in as low as the eighth-tier amongst the 64 clubs involved in the third round, you can’t help but feel like Wolves were given one of the trickier tests by being drawn against a fellow Premier League side.

Furthermore, that Premier League side is Crystal Palace, who find themselves level on points (22) in the league with their opponent. 

Roy Hodgson’s side ended a run of five without a win in the league last weekend with a 2-0 victory over Sheffield United, seeing the Eagles climb up to 14th, a place below Wolves.

The South-London club are meeting expectations to some extent, with an 11 point advantage over 18th place Fulham (despite their two games in hand). However, it’s unclear as to whether the former-West Brom manager will opt to field a strong lineup and thus show a degree of ambition to do well in the tournament. 

The hosts come into the game in rather shaky form, winning just one of their last seven league games, a 2-1 home win over Chelsea.

Most recently, they squandered a 3-1 lead away at Brighton, drawing the game on the south-coast 3-3. 

However, Espirito Santo may take confidence from the fact that his side have overseen 2-0 victories over Crystal Palace at Molineux in the last two seasons, most recently this season in late October with Ait-Nouri and Podence the scorers.

It will certainly be interesting to see what sort of starting line-ups are put out by both managers. The likes of Pedro Neto, Daniel Podence, Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke have all been on the score sheet recently in the league for their respective sides.

How seriously their managers will take the competition is yet to be known, however, if any of those mentioned players start on Friday, then there is certainly some degree of ambition from the respective dugouts to do well in the FA Cup.

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