Joe Hodge has Wembley on his mind as Wolves look to dump Nottingham Forest out of a second cup competition in four days.
Ireland prospect Hodge is expected to be in the Wolves team again when they travel to their Premier League rivals in tomorrow's Carabao Cup quarter-final.
Hodge, 20, is enjoying a dream season having made his senior breakthrough with five Premier League appearances so far, and five more in various cup competitions.
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The most recent of those was in Saturday’s 2-2 FA Cup third round draw away to Liverpool where Wolves were unfortunate not to pull off an upset and progress.
Hodge played the full game and - ahead of schedule - is already knocking on the door for Stephen Kenny’s Republic of Ireland squad in 2023.
English-born but capped at every age level for Ireland from Under-16s to Under-21s, the diminutive midfielder said yesterday: “Every week’s a big week at the moment.
“I can’t complain about not getting opportunities (before this season), and to have some in the past few weeks has been really good for me.
“I’ve done my best to try and take them, but hopefully I can keep doing well and we’ll see how many more I can get.
“But we’re focused on Forest now. It’s a good opportunity, we’re just two games from Wembley, so hopefully we can win there.”
Ahead of the start of the 2021 League of Ireland season, Hodge joined Derry City from Manchester City on a five-month loan deal.
But he suffered a back injury and never played a game for the Candystripes, before returning to City and then penning a three-year deal with Wolves four months ago.
“I’m here with top players like Ruben [Neves], Joao [Moutinho], Bouba [Traore] and Mathues [Nunes],” he told the Wolves website.
“They are all top footballers and top midfield players, so I’m learning off them every day in training.
“The gaffer has worked with some of the best players in the world in the past as well, so he’s definitely got knowledge we can take from and he’s sharing that with us every day.”
New Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui has called on Hodge four times in the five games he has been in charge for to date - three of them starts.
And Hodge is hoping to forge a close working relationship with the former Real Madrid manager as Wolves look to progress tonight before addressing their relegation fears.
Hodge said: “He’s just really on it with everything. He’s keeping our standards high, we’re working hard every day in training, working on every part of the pitch.
“I think you can see that from our performances recently, how much it’s improved and how much more of a team we look like.
“But he’s on it, we’re all working hard and we’re all focused - there’s no days off. When we’re in, we’re working hard. You can’t turn up and slack off.
“That’s what you need to be successful as a team, so it’s been good. It’s nothing that I haven’t seen before, but it’s his attention to detail.
“He’s working with every player to try and improve us and I think that’s showing.”
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