Brighton v Wolves: Gary O'Neil's men head to the coast – with fans dreaming of Europe again

After a summer filled with departures and a swift change in manager just days before the season got under way, Wolves were tipped for relegation.

But as they prepare to travel to eighth-placed Brighton tonight, Gary O’Neil’s side sit just three points off the Seagulls and with the European places in sight.

The head coach is trying to keep expectations low for the time being, but with tonight’s fixture the club have a chance to make early strides towards lofty ambitions they had previously saved for the future.

“That’s the aim, of course, at any football club in the Premier League,” O’Neil said on the possibility of qualifying for Europe.

“To push, firstly, to move yourself away from that group that people talk about as relegation contenders and then to try and push it as high as you can.

“It’s important for us inside the building not to get too carried away with this season, because of what was expected and the numbers we have. We’ve been incredible fortunate, or done very, very well with injuries so far and managed to have a lot of our key players available for a lot of games.

“It doesn’t take much to set us back at the moment numbers-wise, so I’m delighted with where we are.

“Would I love us to finish in the European places this season? Of course.

“But as a longer-term question, it’s definitely where the club are trying to get to again.

“This season was going to be a bit of a transition away from how it was done before and how we’re looking to where it needs to be done, financially.

“But then in the summer hopefully it gives us a chance to regroup and start to invest in the playing squad again.

“Moving into next season, we have some incredibly-talented players to try and keep hold of and you’d expect some big clubs to be interested in them with how well they’ve done. Then we need to try and add to that and constantly build.”

Beating Brighton is easier said than done, however.

Roberto De Zerbi’s side remain a stern test for any top-flight club and O’Neil hopes Wolves will have learned from their 4-1 thrashing to the Seagulls back in August.

“It will be another tough test,” O’Neil added.

“I think back to the last game and there were loads of chances for both teams. Brighton took theirs and we missed all of ours and then the game got away from us in a 10 minute spell. Performance-wise it was nowhere near as bad as the result made it look.

“I’m looking forward to it. A big test against one of the best managers around. They’re an incredibly well-coached side who know what they’re doing. They’re very difficult to stop and especially at the Amex.

“We have a few away on international duty and Joao Gomes missing, which is a blow to us, but I’m looking forward to seeing what we can produce.”