West Ham’s struggles are hilarious, Villa’s slow start is surprising, but the 0-0-5 opening from Wolverhampton Wanderers is neither celebratory nor undeserved. Wolves do have a pair of League Cup wins over Premier League sides, including a 2-0 victory over Everton on Tuesday, but everything else has been alarming and depressing to start off the 2025/26 campaign.
The same cannot be said for Tottenham Hotspur, despite its blemish against Brighton over the weekend. Even in a 2-2 draw, Spurs showed reasons
for promise as the season goes on, and following that up with a clean performance would justify that comeback even further. The task at hand feels very achievable, leaving no room for missing the mark.
Match Details
Date: Saturday, September 27
Time: 3:00 pm ET, 8:00 pm UK
Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
TV: USA Network (US), Sky Sports Premier League (UK)
Table: Tottenham (t-2nd, 10 pts), Wolves (20th, 0 pts)
Wolves won 4-2 at Molineux last April, with goals by Mathys Tel and Richarlison not enough to overcome a rough defensive showing. That made it five straight matches in this fixture without a Tottenham win, including a 2-2 draw in North London last December. Rodrigo Bentancur and Brennan Johnson were the scorers that day, but an equalizer from Jorgen Strand Larsen in the 87th minute epitomized Spurs’ struggles last season.
Three Big Questions
Will Wolves even try to attack? With three goals in five league matches, Wolves are 18th in goals scored and 17th in xG. Losses against City and Newcastle were fairly lopsided, and one has to question how much the gameplan will really deviate from sitting back and playing for a draw, especially with some more reasonable matches following this one.
Still, Wolves are near league average in shots on target and average possession (48 percent) and did score three against West Ham and twice against Everton in League Cup fixtures, so the potential is there. Strand Larsen remains the biggest threat; he finished his opportunities against the Hammers to score a brace last month and historically has been fairly clinical.
Can Spurs keep another clean sheet? Regardless of Strand Larsen’s ability, Tottenham should really be seeking out its fourth clean sheet through six league matches (and sixth out of eight total). Brighton away is a tricky fixture — and the conceded goals were a terrifying reminder of last season — but on the whole this year’s defense has been much more reliable. Against a struggling attack, there is no reason for Thomas Frank’s side to have any sort of trouble.
Aside from the clean sheet itself, a reduction (or elimination) of individual errors feels like the key to truly move past the woes of the past couple seasons. With Wolves Saturday, Leeds next weekend, and Glimt in between, this is a good opportunity for the entire XI to show some discipline and consistency. Given the professional wins against Burnley and West Ham, I expect that to be the case, but any more sloppiness should cause some concern.
How clinical can the home side be? As the visitors should not threaten significantly, the hope is that Frank is willing to feature midfielders who err on the side of creativity and progression, as opposed to ensuring a rigorous defense is in place. Spurs have scored a healthy number of goals, but it is not hard to envision this squad struggling to break down lower sides with ease, as a complete attacking performance has been tough to come by.
Frank has yet to find the perfect combination of attackers but has the luxury of the next three fixtures to tinker a bit and figure out the right components. Odds are Wolves will concede some chances, so it will be up to Tottenham to actually take advantage of them. Convert the good looks and this should be a very comfortable three points.
