After losing their first five Premier League games, Wolves are enduring the worst start in their 148-year history. Vitor Pereira’s side sit bottom of the table and already look in serious danger of relegation.
The odds aren’t in their favour, only two teams have survived in the Premier League having lost their first five games and unlike last season, the sides that came up from the Championship are looking solid.
Wolves may well need a miracle if they want to remain in the Premier League beyond this season.
A less-than-ideal transfer window
Wolves lost their two best players over the summer. First, Matheus Cunha joined Man United for a reported fee of £62.5 million, then, a week later, left-back Rayan Ait Nouri signed for Man City.
The duo accounted for 35% of Wolves’ 54 league goals last season, and their absence has been keenly felt. This term, Wolves rank fourth-worst in xG at 4.4, while only rivals Aston Villa have a lower goals-per-90 rate, with Wolves managing just 0.6.
Wolves have been blunted by the absence of Aït-Nouri and Cunha. Between them, the duo supplied 13 assists last season and were central to the team’s ability to beat players, carry the ball forward, and create chances.
Now, with those qualities missing, Wolves find themselves near the bottom of the league in all those areas, their attack too often flat, predictable, and short of ideas.
They certainly spent money in order to try and replace them, however. Alongside Jorgen Strand Larsen, who spent last season on loan at Molineux, Fer Lopez also joined from Celta Vigo, while Striker Tolu Arokodare arrived for £23m from Genk.
Defenders David Moller Wolfe and Jackson Tchatchoua arrived in the summer, while Pereira, having tracked him closely in Brazil, was a driving force behind the £15m move for winger Jhon Arias from Fluminense.
With the exception of Strand Larsen, none of the players signed have Premier League experience. Wolves have found some real gems in the foreign market in the past, but considering the position they’re in, there is a lot of pressure on these new players to perform almost immediately.
Issues in the defence
Since replacing Gary O’Neil in December 2024, Pereira has transformed Wolves’ shaky defence into a more disciplined, compact unit. Sticking with a consistent 3-4-2-1, he kept things simple and brought stability to the side. The results were clear: shots conceded dropped from 14.6 to 10.7 per game, while goals against fell from 2.5 to 1.3.
This season, though, the picture has shifted. Wolves have shipped 12 goals, only West Ham have conceded more with 13, and they sit joint-second in the league for high-xG chances allowed at 0.13.
Some of this can be put down to individual errors, defender Emmanuel Agbadou has the most errors leading to a goal in Europe's top five leagues this season, but it’s the same lack of cohesion that cost O’Neil his job last season.
It’s no surprise they look a little disjointed, Pereira lost seven first-team regulars in the summer and have given debuts to six new signings since their 4-0 defeat to Man City. He’s also used the most substitutes in the Premier League with 25. The Portuguese coach is still working out what his best eleven is after a summer of upheaval.
A glimmer of hope
It’s not all doom and gloom for Wolves, the club are historically slow starters, last season they didn’t win any of their first ten games but still stayed up fairly comfortably. In fact, over the past four seasons, they haven’t won more than three points from their opening four league games.
Verdict
It’s likely going to be a long season for Wolves. With new signings still finding their feet and the loss of key players, Pereira needs to get a hold of things quickly and make them defensively solid once again. If they do that, they should beat the odds and remain in the Premier League… for now.