Lopetegui hopes for a winning start with Wolves in the Carabao Cup

Julen Lopetegui will begin his new era at Wolves on Tuesday night as they host Gillingham of League Two in the Carabao Cup at Molineux.

The Spaniard will be hoping for his new Wolves side to progress into the quarter finals of the League Cup, as the former Sevilla manager takes charge of his first official game at the club.

Wolves will make a welcome return to competitive action as the World Cup saw the Premier League sides take a break with the season halted in mid-November.

The tie with Gillingham comes after the Spaniard has enjoyed over a month with the Premier League side, having been confirmed as the Wolves manager in early November.

The 56-year-old was unveiled to the Wolves fans in their home league loss to leaders Arsenal before taking charge during the World Cup tournament held in Qatar.

Wolves have played recent friendlies against Birmingham City, Empoli and Cádiz beating the La Liga side 4-3 and drawing the two former games.

Lopetegui is positive ahead of the cup fixture with Gillingham, satisfied that his side are putting in the effort to turn their season around.

He said: “I think they are working very hard.

“In the matches against Birmingham and in Spain against Empoli and Cadiz, step by step I think they are understanding more about us, and in the same way us about them.

“We have to improve more in the next matches and tomorrow is the first important test because it’s the first official match.

“We are playing an exciting Carabao Cup tie, we want to win.

“We know it’s going to be a hard task because it’s the cup and we are talking about only one match. This is football and we know what can happen, so we have to be ready, but at the same time, we want to win this match a lot.”

Gillingham progressed through to this stage of the competition beating Brentford 6-5 on penalties, as the game finished one-a-piece at the Brentford Community Stadium.

The Gills saw off AFC Wimbledon winning 2-0 in the first round before beating Exeter City also 6-5 on penalties to earn the cup match with the Bees.

After the dramatic win in West London, they were rewarded with another big away tie at Wolves and Lopetegui is aware of the threat that his opponents bring.

“I know that they have eliminated Brentford and I feel they are going to be a very dangerous team.

“In the cup all things can happen because it’s only one match.

“We have to be ready, we are alert and we know the way they play usually and we have to be ready for tomorrow.

“It’s a team that is very clear how they want to play, and we have to be ready to double up in our best way.”

Despite the emphatic cup run, the Gills sit bottom of League Two with just two wins from 20 league games.

Likewise to their opponents Wolves also sit bottom in their retrospective league, with two wins from the campaign so far.

The struggling Wolves will look to ignite a spark in their season and get off to a win to resume after the break.

With just ten points so far this season in the Premier League and just one from their last five games thanks to a draw against Brentford, Lopetegui will hope to turn things around and make Molineux a fortress for his new side.

The Midlands team secured their place in the round of 16 with a 1-0 win over Leeds. Boubacar Traore found the net for the winning goal which was his first in gold and black.

However, Wolves will be without the Malian as Lopetegui confirmed the injuries within the squad.

“We have a problem with Jonny and ‘Bouba’ [Traore].

“The rest of the players are ready.”

The tie may see striker Raul Jimenez feature with Hwang Hee-Chan also looking to help Wolves return to winning ways after finding the net in Qatar against Portugal, sending South Korea into the last-16.

Lopetegui said on Jimenez: “He’s working very hard, like the rest of the squad.”

Adding: “He’s trying to improve his feet and his body to feel better to help more.

“Tomorrow is going to a chance for him and the rest of the squad and he’s trying to improve us, like the rest of the players.

Gillingham on the other hand, battling to remain in the EFL, come into the game fresh from two postponements.

Their fixtures against Bradford City and Stockport County were called off due to a frozen pitch as the League Two side will look to cause another huge upset against Wolves and inflict an early blow on Lopetegui’s new era at Wolves.

The Kent-based side have proven their capability to overcome a Premier League side and will hope to do it once again to set up a big last-eight tie for themselves.

The Gills are enjoying big cup ties so far this season with the League Two side having been drawn against Leicester in the third-round of the FA Cup, bound to supply the club with extra required funds.

Neil Harris’ side’s last game saw them beat Dagenham and Redbridge 3-2 in an FA Cup replay at the Priestfield Stadium after being battered 3-0 by Salford at home five days before.

The Carabao Cup Round-of-16 tie kicks off at 7:45 at Molineux with Lopetegui hoping to get off to a winning start with his Wolves.

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