Wolves v Sheffield United preview: Bruno Lage keen to write his own chapter of FA Cup history

The club are currently riding high in the Premier League after an historic 1-0 win away at Manchester United lifted them to eighth in the division.

Lage has proven to be a success in his short spell in charge but the head coach has lofty ambitions and is eager to take Wolves on another FA Cup journey – just three years after they lost at Wembley in the semi-finals.

He said: “I came here to start a new cycle, to try to continue the work that Nuno did, but I came with a big ambition to win titles for Wolves.

“That’s my target. I will try to play the best team to win the game, because I want to win titles.

“For sure (I want to win the FA Cup). I want to play in Wembley and I want to win titles. We are going to do everything to start on the right foot in this competition.”

Lage is expected to make some changes to his side, with the likes of Leander Dendoncker, Ki-Jana Hoever and Fabio Silva hoping for minutes.

However, Lage has proven he takes the cup competitions seriously with his line-ups in the two Carabao Cup fixtures this season.

And when asked if this game was an opportunity for his fringe players, Lage added: “It’s an opportunity to continue in our way.

“In the last three games we have played well and the last game was important for us because the challenge was to play at the same level in an away game, we did. We need to continue with that mentality.

“The FA Cup is the history of football and we go with our best team to play.

“Go back 30 years ago and in that period around the world people did not have a chance to watch English games, but there was one English game on Portuguese TV in May, the FA Cup, so it means a lot to everyone. It is an important trophy here, but also in the world.”

The head coach also confirmed that Wolves currently have no fresh injury concerns and Covid-19 cases, but did warn that they were waiting on their latest test results.

Meanwhile, in Sheffield United Lage eyes a tough challenge and the Wolves boss believes the Championship outfit are more than capable of causing an upset.

“I worked two-and-a-half years in the Championship and sometimes you don’t feel the difference,” he said. “I have good memories when I worked with Carlos (Carvalhal), we beat Arsenal in the league cup. It’s just one game of 90 minutes and the teams come with everything.

“They come with a big ambition. I’ve watched two or three games, especially the game against Fulham, and they know how to play in that system.

“Sometimes they play with two or three midfielders, so they will create a lot of problems for us and we need a big mentality to play at home with our fans to continue in the competition.”

Opposition view

Paul Heckingbottom has revealed his Sheffield United side has been hit with Covid-19 cases ahead of their FA Cup trip to Wolves.

The Blades have endured a frustrating festive period with Championship games against Preston, Hull and Middlesbrough all called off.

They last played on December 20, in a 1-0 win over Fulham, and Heckingbottom now says his preparation for Sunday’s trip to Molineux has been impacted by Covid-19.

He said: “We have a couple of Covid issues now for this game, which has changed our preparation, and I can’t see us getting through between now and Sunday without a couple more.

“So you certainly need to be flexible and have a few teams up your sleeve because that positive Covid test can come at any point as we have seen.

“We have had games called off but we really want this game on, we want to put a team out and play and we want to make sure everyone is fit and available, but you never know who is going to get the positive result, which none of us want, but we have to be realistic enough to understand it might happen.”

Having had their last three fixtures postponed, United have plenty of catching up to do as they sit 13th in the second tier – despite winning their last four games in a row.

And the manager says the change in competition has helped his team.

He added: “We tried to draw a line under it and start afresh after the New Year’s Day game got called off against Boro and switch the focus to the FA Cup.

“That has helped the fact that it’s a different competition and that we are going away to a big Premier League team who are performing really, really well.

“It changes the focus and gets everyone back on track.”

United have been boosted by the return of Oli McBurnie and David McGoldrick, while Rhian Brewster and Adlene Guedioura have returned to training.