Wolverhampton Wanderers

Huzaifah Khan
BBC Sport journalist

Wolves boss Rob Edwards has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Leeds United at Elland Road (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Edwards confirmed goalkeeper Sam Johnstone is still not available due to a shoulder injury, while Matt Doherty is "pushing" for a comeback after training for the past couple of days and they will make a "late call" on whether he's fit enough to play.

• He added that everyone else is fit and available for this weekend.

• On whether losing 4-0 to West Ham felt like a setback: "I think in this league, everyone loses games and you're going to drop points. The result was horrible but we can't let that knock us."

• The Wolves boss believes "the fight will remain" among his squad, and if anyone doesn't buy into that then he's not afraid to play younger players who will fight for the club.

• On what he wants to achieve for the rest of the season: "Whether it's Friday night games or Monday night games, take the last one aside, I think we've shown a good side to ourselves. Won some big games, fought back against big teams. People watching would have watched and thought it's a pretty good place to be and to play. We want to try and get as many points as possible and take it as far as we can."

• Asked about Leeds boss Daniel Farke, Edwards responded: "I think he's a brilliant manager. I think he's done a great job. I actually think the performance levels consistently for a long time now are above where they are, especially in the league. "

• He added that Leeds "have a great way of playing - aggressive, very dynamic, quick, loads of intensity, so it will be a very challenging game."

• On the away day: "Elland Road is always a really good atmosphere as well. They'll be buoyed by the result last time out away at Manchester United, so it should be a really good game for us."

Listen to full match commentary of Leeds United v Wolves on BBC Radio 5 Live on Saturday at 15:00 BST

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Got a question about Wolves? Get in touch here and we'll seek answers from our experts

We asked for your views whether Wolves can bounce straight back to the Premier League if the seemingly inevitable happens and they are to go down.

Here are some of your comments:

Jacob: I believe we can bounce back at the first time of asking but it will require a fairly large rehaul of the squad. Whether we return to the Premier League depends entirely on the ambition and competency of Fosun's recruitment in the summer. Also, the task will be made that much harder if we have to compete with Tottenham for a promotion place.

Lee: Unfortunately I don't think we will bounce back. As long as the current ownership is in place we will struggle.

Ben: Given the advantage of the parachute payments and Edwards' track record of promotion, a top-eight berth should be achievable. However, a lot hinges on recruitment, an area in which we have been woefully inconsistent in recent seasons. Hopefully Fosun have learned from past mistakes and give the management team the tools and time needed to succeed.

James: I think that if anyone has the ability to get us back up it is Rob. It will be tough however. I think we can do it .

Josh: I think we will hold on to a good group of core players. It worries me if Spurs come down with us as you would presume they would take one of the automatic spots.

Gareth: It completely depends on what happens in the summer. We've shown more ability and fight since Rob took over, which is of course a positive, but some of our key players have been a core reason to that. We will no doubt have large sums thrown at us for these players, and the ones we do sell, our recruitment will need to put that money to good use. This summer will absolutely define next season.

Rob: I think it all depends on Tottenham, if they go down I am not sure we will come back on the first attempt. Staying down for a season could also allow us to build a better team. If Spurs don't get relegated we stand a chance.

Wolves' defeat at the hands of West Ham was a huge blow to any remaining survival hopes.

So, if the dreaded drop is to materialise, how confident are you of an immediate return to the Premier League?

Get in touch with your views here

Mike Taylor
BBC Radio WM reporter

Image source, PA Media

Perhaps it was easier when they weren't playing.

In the three and a half weeks without a game, some sense of anticipation had begun to build up. There may have been only the most slender hope of survival but there was at least the prospect of some fun on the way to the exit.

After Friday's 4-0 loss at West Ham, and the careless mistakes in the second half, Wolves instead enter a period of footballing purgatory.

There will be a numbness about these final games. If they win, maybe even if they win them all, it will be too late to count. If they lose, after being bottom of the league for almost the entire season, they can be no worse off. They will be results without consequence.

But it is just this sense of futility that makes the remaining weeks of the season so dangerous. No doubt several members of the squad will be playing out their last few weeks with the club, at least in their own minds. Although there is apparently no immediate financial urgency to sell, Wolves will need to shift at least a few players out to press on with the renewal of their squad - the sooner the better to prepare for the Championship.

Whether the list of players Wolves intend to move on matches the list of those who think they should, to say nothing of the list of those likely to attract decent offers, will take some time to establish. There is a danger of drift now. For a player who thinks - or whose agent thinks - he is about to land a lucrative move away, what is the incentive to go for that tackle or to make that sprint? If Wolves expect a player to leave, is there any point in picking them now anyway?

There is some logic to leaving out a few stars. Giving young players a chance always appeals to the footballing romantics. But using the remaining games just as testbeds heightens the risk of another losing run. A string of defeats now may make no difference to the league table but would still sap morale, at a time when the club is trying hard - with more sensible pricing - to persuade fans to pay for another season.

As Wolves have found in recent years, the mood in May carries over to August. Exposing young players to the harsh spotlight of the last weeks in the Premier League, and a low moment in the club's recent history, is also a difficult thing to do.

Listen to full commentary of Leeds v Wolves at 15:00 BST on Saturday on BBC Radio WM (DAB Black Country)

And tune into The West Midlands Football Phone-In from 18:00 on weeknights

Explore Wolves content on BBC Sounds

Image source, Getty Images

Two Premier League heavyweights are set to face each other this weekend at Etihad Stadium, as Manchester City host Arsenal.

Both teams go into the fixture with different targets. For Mikel Arteta's side, it is about extending their lead at the top of the table. For Pep Guardiola's side, it is about closing the gap and keeping themselves in the title race.

It is a fixture being labelled a title decider by some, so we want to know who you want to win this Sunday's match.

Will you be cheering on the Citizens or getting behind the Gunners?

Make your selection

Emma Milton
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Wolves' defeat by West Ham exposed a familiar problem that has been an underlying issue all season.

For most of the first half, Wolves actually looked the better side. But even then, the same problem kept appearing - a lack of quality and directness in the final third. That is not good enough now and it will be even less acceptable in the Championship.

The two goals conceded in quick succession also pointed to a deeper issue. Individual errors, combined with a clear lack of focus and a bit of naivety, cost Wolves badly at a key moment in the game. Those kinds of mistakes cannot keep happening.

Wolves have not had enough physical presence or enough players who can handle a proper battle. Against West Ham, that lack of size and power showed up again. In the Championship, where games are often scrappier and more physical, that weakness would stand out even more.

The squad has limited creativity and that is telling when so much is being asked of Joao Gomes, who is naturally a defensive midfielder, and 18-year-old Mateus Mane. who has already had to carry a huge amount of responsibility over half a season. That is not sustainable if Wolves want to come back stronger.

There was also a familiar lack of support around the striker. When Wolves get players close enough to combine, they can create chances. When they do not, the centre-forward is isolated and attacks break down before they begin. Adam Armstrong has at least offered movement and link play and this may have been helped had there been a second striker like Tolu alongside him.

In truth, this defeat said as much about squad balance as it did about the teamsheet. Wolves have spent too long without enough physical presence. If they are being overrun in the Premier League, that same profile will struggle in the Championship too.

Wolves need more imagination, more pace, more physicality and more players who can make the final third feel dangerous. Right now, too many promising spells fade into nothing.

This performance was nowhere near good enough.

Find more from Emma Milton at Always Wolves, external

Pundits Alan Shearer and Danny Murphy join host Kelly Cates to bring you the action and talking points from Friday and Saturday's Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Brentford 2-2 Everton

• Burnley 0-2 Brighton

• Liverpool 2-0 Fulham

Keifer MacDonald
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

For Wolves this felt like the night any lingering hope of pulling off one of the greatest escapes in top-flight history was all but extinguished - with a return to the Championship now surely a matter of when, not if.

The visitors started brightly and it could have been a very different story - and scoreline - had the likes of Adam Armstrong and Hugo Bueno found the back of the net after an evenly matched opening 42 minutes.

But once West Ham found the opener - perhaps against the run of play - there was only ever going to be one winner.

What will please Rob Edwards, however, is that his side - who have spent much of the campaign propping up the table - did not perform like a team with just 17 points from 31 games.

It has been a season to forget for Wolves, but Edwards will take pride in the fighting spirit his side - discussed as one of the worst in Premier League history as recently as December - have shown over the past three months, even as relegation loomed large throughout.

We asked for your thoughts after Friday's Premier League game between West Ham and Wolves.

Here are some of your comments:

West Ham fans

Joe: Massive win and a clean sheet to go with it. Struggled in the first half but fought for that opener and got the team back into it. Taty and Pablo are a great pair up front, Bowen is clinical with his passing and Mavro is being a beast in the box. Happy Hammers tonight, bring on the next one.

Dave: At long last a good result. We were second best in the first half but improved in the second half. Wolves have improved too, and looked like they were going to score but luckily they didn't. We need to start having two good halves and we may stay up and send Spurs down.

Sue: What a great result and another clean sheet. First half a bit slow but a brilliant second half. If we keep going like this we will beat the drop. Watch out Arsenal haha.

Wolves fans

Guy: Whilst we are obviously going to be relegated this year, it would have been great to see the team actually trying to compete with West Ham to win the three points on offer. There is surely the small matter of not finishing bottom of the league to play for? After such a dismal season, that should be sufficient motivation for the team. All we ask for is effort and after such a long wait between games it was very disappointing to see none.

Simon: Pitiful - the long suffering supporters who made the trip down to London should be reimbursed for that pathetic and embarrassing performance. A disgrace after a 25-day rest!!

Dan: Once the second goal went in we absolutely fell apart. This was a game we had to win to maintain any slim hope of survival and we got battered. A pretty depressing return from several weeks without a game.

Ian: The international break has worked against us. Lots of poor individual mistakes that weren't happening as much before. We handed them the game on a plate.

Keifer MacDonald
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

While those above them continue to battle it out for survival, it looks almost certain that Wolves' race is run.

Fifteen points from safety with just 18 points left to play for, their relegation could be confirmed as early as next Saturday if results go against them.

They have been made to pay for a dreadful first half of the season, failing to win any of their opening 19 games and picking up just three points in the process.

Defender Ladislav Krejci apologised to fans after their defeat at London Stadium - "not just for this game but the situation in the table".

But manager Rob Edwards would not be drawn on whether it was a result that killed any remaining hope.

"For us it is the same message," Edwards told Sky Sports. "We have to try to finish strong, respect every game and go for it.

"We are all under the microscope and we have to make sure we perform."

Read more analysis of the relegation battle here

Rob Edwards spoke to Sky Sports after Wolves' defeat against West Ham: "Yes it did come as a surprise. We're bitterly disappointed. I thought the performance in the first half was good and we started really well. Goign 1-0 down can happen, we talked about making sure we finish attacks better. Then two quick fire goals, they latched onto our mistakes and then the game is done. You give them credit but it is poor from us. So what started looking like it could be a positive night ended up being really difficult.

"It doesn't matter who makes the mistakes, we make them as a team. A couple of our best players have been robbed of the ball, it can happen, there is still a lot to do. It's a collective and they took advantage of those tonight.

"For us it is the same message. We have to try to finish strong, respect every game and go for it. We are all under the microscope and we have to make sure we perform. Tonight is strange because we did, and then we got punished in the second half. We've got to make sure that we respond now at Elland Road.

"I don't think it's helped 25 days not playing, but it's not an excuse. I won't make any excuses. In the end we got punished for our mistakes and West Ham won the game deservedly. Tonight we've got to lick our wounds, take the medicine, take the criticism, then come back and respond well."

Wolves defender Ladislav Krejci also spoke to Sky Sports: "From the beginning I felt we were the better team. We had more space, we were better on the ball. From some moment in the first half we stopped moving and finding the right solution. We let them score and the second half from our mistakes we gave them the chances. It's unacceptable how many goals we conceded. From our side we apologise to the fans - not just for this game but this situation doesn't help us in the table. We could've got closer but we did not.

"The situation that we created, we gave them the chance to score - that's from our side. I don't want to point fingers because everybody was there. We cannot do it at this level."

Does this make survival impossible? "I don't know - my full focus and others in the club was that this game was the one which changed the whole thing. It didn't happen so let's meet next week again and try to find a solution if it's there."

You can listen to more from Rob Edwards on BBC Sounds

Did you know?

Yerson Mosquera picked up his 12th yellow card in just 28 Premier League appearances – among players with at least 20 games in the history of the competition, only Jamie Fullarton (11 in 25 games, 0.44) has a higher yellows per game ratio than Mosquera (0.43).

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on West Ham's performance

What did you make of Wolves' display?

Come back on Saturday for a selection of your replies

West Ham's hopes of Premier League survival are boosted by the return of Crysencio Summerville, who missed last weekend's FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Leeds United through injury.

The 24-year-old is one of six changes for the Hammers, with Mads Hermansen, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Tomas Soucek, Pablo and Valentin Castellanos also coming into the starting XI.

Callum Wilson and Jean-Clair Tdibo are both also fit enough to be named on the bench after a spell on the sidelines.

West Ham XI: Hermansen, Walker-Peters, Disasi, Mavropanos, Diouf; Summerville, Soucek, Fernandes, Bowen; Pablo,Castellanos

Subs: Areola, Wilson, Adama, Todibo, Magassa, Wan-Bissaka, Scarles, Potts, Kante

Wolves, meanwhile, are without defender Matt Doherty as they line up for a first Premier League game in 25 days.

Manager Rob Edwards makes one change from the side that managed a 2-2 draw with Brentford on March 16, with Angel Gomes starting in place of Mateus Mane.

Wolves XI: Sa, Mosquera, Bueno, Krejci; Tchatchoua, Andre, J.Gomes, Bueno; Bellegarde, A.Gomes; Armstrong

Subs: Bentley, Wolfe, Hwang, Arokodare, Lima, R.Gomes, Toti, Mane, Edozie

Relegation rivals West Ham and Wolves meet for the third time this season.

Returning from hammer blow

West Ham need to bounce straight back after their FA Cup heartache last weekend, and what better way to do it than getting a win which would move them out of the relegation zone – even if it might only be for less than 48 hours.

The good news for the Hammers is that they are facing the bottom side, whose miserable season has meant they were seen as relegation certs well before Christmas.

But the bad news is that Wolves have beaten them twice already in 2025-26, and are enjoying something of a late-season renaissance, losing only four of their past 13 matches.

West Ham will take heart from the manner of their FA Cup fightback against Leeds on Sunday, when they scored twice in stoppage time. Scoring late goals was a feature of their cup run – four of their seven goals came after the 90th minute.

However, that's something of a contrast to their league form, where they have dropped more points than any other side in the final 15 minutes of matches.

Letting in goals has been a big problem for West Ham, whose tally of 57 goals conceded exceeds that of their opponents on Friday and is the second-worst in the top flight.

The Hammers have also conceded a joint-division-high 22 goals from set-pieces – although Wolves have only scored nine goals from set-pieces, the joint-lowest total in the Premier League.

Wolves in revival mode

Wolves kicked off 2026 with a 3-0 victory over West Ham – a repeat of that scoreline would see them move off the foot of the table for the first time since August.

It may prove to be a brief stay but moving off the bottom of the top flight is something that looked unlikely even six weeks ago when they suffered their 20th league defeat of the season, and were nine points adrift and still in danger of eclipsing Derby's record for the fewest points in a Premier League campaign.

Two wins and a draw since then have restored some pride to the Old Gold, and they will hope that the 25-day break since their last match has not stopped their momentum.

Avoiding relegation might be a step too far – Opta's Supercomputer, external gives them a 99.93% chance of going down – but they look determined to do it fighting every step of the way.

And with none of their remaining seven fixtures against top eight clubs – and four of them against teams in the bottom six – they could have a big say in who might join them should they end up in the Championship next season.

It's so hard to know what to expect this weekend, because so many teams have not played for a few weeks, and they will have lost any momentum.

Wolves know they are down but they have definitely improved under Rob Edwards, who has had some decent results after a difficult start. They are one of the teams who have been on a good run, but their last match was on 16 March.

Seeing West Ham's FA Cup tie with Leeds go to extra-time last weekend was the worst-case scenario for them, with a massive game like this on the horizon.

They obviously lost on penalties in the end, and their league form has not been great either, with only one win in their past six games.

That's why they are still in the bottom three at the moment but I think they will be out of the relegation zone on Friday night.

Wolves have beaten West Ham twice already this season, at Molineux in the league and the Carabao Cup, but this time I am going for a Hammers win.

All the pressure is on them here, but they are at home and Jarrod Bowen will probably be the player who makes the difference.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

Read the full predictions and have your say here

The Premier League's return this weekend brings trepidation for some and excitement for others.

Football's emotional rollercoaster becomes intense at this time of year, unless of course mid-table mediocrity has taken a grip of things in recent months.

So how are you feeling as a Wolves fan with just a handful of weeks left to go?

The league form reads: DDLWWD

The next three league fixtures are: West Ham (a), Leeds (a), Spurs (h)

Let us know how you're feeling here

Millie Sian
BBC Sport journalist

Wolves boss Rob Edwards has been speaking to the media before Friday's Premier League game against West Ham United at London Stadium (kick-off 20:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• In terms of injury news, Sam Johnstone is suffering with a "shoulder issue" and Matt Doherty has picked up a "niggle", so neither will feature on Friday night.

• The goalkeeper's injury may hamper his chances of featuring in the final seven games of this season, although Edwards hopes to obtain "more detail" soon.

• The "ultra-long" 25-day international break has been "good but strange". He explained: "I can't remember ever having this amount of time between fixtures, apart from during Covid, so it has been new and different for me."

• It has been an opportunity to "review some stuff, take some time off, do some good training and look forward" though.

• He added: "West Ham have had a couple of competitive games since we last played, so maybe that will help them. Hopefully the break has been good for us. It will be interesting to see how we turn up."

• When asked how Wolves will approach the fixture, he replied: "It is a really big game for both teams. We want to try to take things as far as we can, keep improving, keep the momentum going, and go into it wanting to win."

• Edwards feels the 3-0 victory over West Ham United earlier this season "certainly helped morale and built belief", but there had been "a lot of good performances" prior to picking up that result.

• He feels Nuno Espirito Santo is a "brilliant manager", who rightly has "legendary status" following his time at Wolves.

• On being able to move off the bottom of the table with a win, he said: "We want to try to take as much positive momentum into next season, so clearly we want finish as high as possible. To do that we need to get points, but we haven't thought about what it might do to the table. It would be silly to do so."

• He hasn't "thought too much" about what would make a good end to the season: "I suppose I want to try to keep the feeling we've got around the club right now. If we feel good about the football club and the work we have done, that's some success to take into next season."

• Lastly, when asked about defensive midfielder Andre, he replied: "I love him to bits. He is brilliant, as a person and as a player. He is a wonderful guy. When he plays well, we play well."

Follow all of Thursday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

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