(Football news) While the Seagulls came from behind to salvage a point from Everton in a 1-1 draw, Gary O’Neil’s team enters the midweek match fresh off a 1-0 victory against Sheffield United in the Premier League.
While most of the attention was focused on the weekend’s events at Molineux due to the altercation between Vinicius Souza and Jack Robinson of Sheffield United a la Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer, O’Neil’s team carried out their business and ended a two-game losing run at home with a 1-0 victory over the cellar boys.
Jose Sa and his shield had plenty of defending to do on Sunday afternoon, but the toothless Blades failed to wear down the hosts’ rearguard, and a deft Pablo Sarabia header from Rayan Ait-Nouri’s delightful delivery propelled Wolves to a third win from their last four Premier League affairs.
Now on the brink of breaking into the European places – occupying eighth spot in the table with just a single point separating them from Wednesday’s opponents – Wolves also have the opportunity to return to the continent via the FA Cup, in which they have already sent Brentford and West Bromwich Albion packing in 2024.
The 2-0 success over their Black Country adversaries was overshadowed by disgraceful scenes of crowd disorder, which led to a lengthy stoppage in play, but Wolves are now just 90 minutes away from reaching the quarters for the first time since 2018-19, when they were beaten semi-finalists against Watford.
That campaign represents just one of two occasions that Wolves have progressed past the fifth round of the FA Cup since the turn of the millennium – the other saw the hosts lose their 2002-03 quarter-final to Southampton – and now another team from the South Coast seeks to extinguish Wolves’ hopes of silverware.
Just before that, Roberto De Zerbi’s team destroyed Stoke City for four goals in their FA Cup fourth-round match, while Wolves were only able to generate one goal in their most recent victory over Sheffield United. Brighton, on the other hand, put a stunning five past the Blades.
Before welcoming Everton to their Amex base on Saturday, Brighton celebrated another five-star performance at Bramall Lane. Desperate to avoid a repeat of their 5-1 humiliation at the hands of the Toffees from 2022–23, but another heartbreaking defeat was in store when Jarrad Branthwaite, playing like an experienced number nine, picked out the top corner.
