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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Sunny Badwal and Press Association

Wolves boss admits to unusual problem in preparing for Chelsea clash

Wolves boss Gary O'Neil insisted it was "pretty much impossible" to predict the Chelsea line-up they would face this weekend following their busy summer transfer window.

Chelsea have brought in 10 new players since new boss Enzo Maresca walked through the door at Stamford Bridge, including former Wolves talisman Pedro Neto.

Neto faces a quick return to Molineux on Sunday when he revisits Wolves with his new club after making his Premier League debut in their defeat to Manchester City last week.

O'Neil was interested to see whether Neto would be included to play in front of the fans that used to sing his name after he also appeared in Chelsea Europa Conference League qualifying victory over Servette on Thursday night.

He told a press conference: "It'll be interesting to see what they do with him. Obviously he played yesterday, we'll see whether he can go again on the weekend and start again on the Sunday.

"It's pretty much impossible for me to predict the Chelsea line-up but, there are so many there.

"We know some that definitely won't be in the team but figuring out what they're going to do will be tough. We will try and give the best account of ourselves and try start the Premier League season at home with a win, which will be huge for us.”

Wolves suffered a closely-fought 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in their league opener last week, courtesy of goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka.

They now face a tricky test against another of the Premier League big six, but O'Neil admitted he was disappointed not to take anything away from the home of last season's runners-up.

He said: "There was some pride about the work that had been done and how it was carried out in a extreme test at the Emirates and then some disappointment.

"Arsenal had more chances than we did but we had enough - we had some good situations so I'm a little bit disappointed that I have to talk about us doing OK and not taking anything.

"I'd rather be sat here talking about a good away point or whatever it would have been. It showed the boys they can do what we want them to do and it can help us this year."

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