Dave Edwards: Rock-solid Wolves reach safety at last
Although Julen Lopetegui is adamant Wolves should not take their foot off the gas – getting up to 37 points is always a marker for safety.
I believe it will keep you in the Premier League this season, and they have managed to do it with five games to spare, which is pretty incredible really.
It was not a stellar performance from Wolves on Tuesday, but they dug in and were resolute, defended well, getting the result.
There have not been too many occasions this season when you can see Wolves have not played overly well and won a game, so that is just as encouraging as playing well week in and week out. It is something they certainly di, so huge credit to the team and massive relief to Wolves fans.
They have five games left to go against teams who have all got stuff to play for still, so it is good for Wolves to be in a position where they can upset a few now.
Their defensive record and the home form has been excellent since the turn of the year – they have played eight and won six.
The thing that sticks out from those wins is the six clean sheets.
Lopetegui said a few weeks ago that if Wolves are going to stay in the Premier League it will be clean sheets that will do it as he knows they are not quite as free-scoring as perhaps he wants them to be.
But keeping the ball out of the net always gives you a chance with at least a goal.
You fancy them to get a goal at home and they have done that really since the turn of the year.
Moving into next season they can look to try to find some more finesse in the final third to allow them to really take games away from the opposition.
He has made them more solid to get them into this position, and you can see a lot of emphasis has gone into the way they defend and the team shape, which has worked.
Since he came in, they have picked up 27 points from 18 games and if you would have said that would be the case before he took his first game, I don’t think Wolves fans would have believed that he would have been able to make that much of a difference.
A lot of it comes down to him but also his recruitment in January.
He has made us more of a threat going forward and the shape of the team is organised and resolute.
