Wolves have confirmed the appointment of Julen Lopetegui as their new head coach, bringing an end to their search for Bruno Lage's replacement.
Lage was axed at the start of October following Wolves' defeat to West Ham, but they have picked up just four points from five matches since then and sit second-bottom of the Premier League heading into the weekend's fixtures.
Lopetegui was dismissed by Sevilla last month after spending over three years with the Andalusian side, who he guided to Europa League success in 2020, and was long-reported as a priority target for Wolves.
While it was reported the former Real Madrid and Spain coach initially rejected Wolves' advances, on Saturday it was announced he had taken up their offer.
Lopetegui will not take charge at Wolves until Monday, November 14, though, meaning he will have to wait until after the World Cup for his first game in charge, which will come against Everton on Boxing Day.
In a statement, Wolves chairman Jeff Shi said: "Julen is a top coach, with excellent experience at an elite level of the game, and we are very pleased to have agreed a deal to bring him to Wolves.
"Since the very beginning, Julen has been our number one choice to manage Wolves, and we look forward to welcoming him and his team when they join us in the coming weeks."
Wolves host Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday before taking on Leeds United in the EFL Cup in midweek, with a home match against Arsenal rounding off their league fixtures before the World Cup.
Al-Nassr 1-1 Al-Hilal: Milinkovic-Savic leveller keeps champions unbeaten
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic preserved Al-Hilal's unbeaten start to the Saudi Pro League season as his header earned the defending champions a 1-1 draw against Al-Nassr on Friday.
Al-Hilal dropped their first points of the season having won their first eight games, but remained at the summit of the standings, moving one point clear of Al-Ittihad.
Al-Nassr found themselves in front inside two minutes when Otavio's clipped ball found Talisca, who took a touch before firing the ball beyond Yassine Bounou.
The first half saw clear-cut chances hard to come by, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Talisca and Mohamed Simakan seeing their efforts unable to trouble visiting goalkeeper Bounou.
Al-Hilal, who had scored 23 goals in their first eight games, came closest to an equaliser after the break when Salem Al Dawsari struck the woodwork.
But the leveller came in the 77th minute when a free-flowing move ended with Milinkovic-Savic heading the ball in off the post after being picked out by Renan Lodi's cross.
Both sides looked to find a winner in the closing stages, with Ali Lajami coming the closest for Al-Nassr, but the points were shared at the Al Awal Park at King Saud University.
Data Debrief: Champions end Ronaldo streak
Ronaldo's run of four straight games with a goal came to an end against Al-Hilal, though he was Al-Nassr's most potent attacking threat during the encounter.
The Portugal captain registered a team-high 0.37 expected goals (xG) to Al-Nassr's 0.9 total, while also having the joint-most touches in the opposition box (five - level with Otavio).
Al Ittihad 1-0 Al Ahli: Al Shehri nets winner as Blanc's side match leaders Al Hilal
Saleh Al Shehri scored the only goal of the game as Al Ittihad edged Jeddah rivals Al Ahli to go level on points with Saudi Pro League leaders Al Hilal.
Al Shehri turned in a cross from Moussa Diaby in the 42nd minute to give Laurent Blanc’s side a 1-0 lead in the derby, while Diaby was denied the chance to double that advantage in the closing stages by the woodwork.
Matthias Jaissle’s Al Ahli thought they had scored an equaliser through their captain Franck Kessie in the 59th minute only for the goal to be ruled out for offside after a VAR review.
Al Ahli had also gone close in the 51st minute when Ivan Toney rounded Al Ittihad goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic, but his strike was brilliantly cleared off the line by Abdulelah Al Amri.
Blanc’s side generated an expected goals (xG) total of 1.06 with four of their 12 efforts on target, while Al Ahli ended with an xG of 1.01 with three of their shots on target.
Al Ittihad have collected 24 points from nine matches - the same as defending champions Al Hilal who will face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr on Friday.
Al Ahli, meanwhile, find themselves 13 points adrift of the summit in 11th place with just one win from their last five matches.
Crystal Palace game is not a must-win for Wolves according to O'Neil
Wolves manager Gary O'Neil has attempted to take the pressure off the players ahead of their weekend match against fellow strugglers Crystal Palace.
O'Neil's side are currently 19th in the Premier League with just two points from their opening nine matches, with Palace four points above them in 17th.
“I know there will be a lot made of the next games, but they’re not must wins,” O’Neil told a pre-match press conference.
“Crystal Palace are good. They spent £30million on a striker from Arsenal and Eze is pretty good! We need to be ready in every game and we want to win.
“Southampton will also be tough, they keep the ball forever and have a real set way of playing.
Wolves fought back from two goals down to claim a point in a 2-2 draw against Brighton last weekend, having only scored their first after 88 minutes. Their manager was clear on that never-say-die attitude always being present at the club.
“There will be challenges in every game because that’s the level of the Premier League, but we’ll keep going," he said.
“The lads will never stop. We’ll stand up, we’ll keep going and we’ll be fine.
“The one thing I guarantee we won’t come up short on is fight, passion, togetherness and effort.
“If we come up short on quality sometimes, we work hard to make sure that doesn’t happen, but we definitely won’t come up short on anything else.”
Opposite number Oliver Glasner, meanwhile, has fitness worries over some key players going into this match after both Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton came off injured against Aston Villa in the EFL Cup in midweek.
While he was positive that Wharton's injury was just the recurrence of an existing issue, he was less sure about Eze.
“I hope that it’s not too serious but I don’t know. It’s not the best information that I got today that Ebs had to leave the pitch," he said.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Wolves - Matheus Cunha
Cunha got Wolves' equaliser against Brighton deep into stoppage time last weekend, bringing him to four for the season so far.
He has scored in 15 Premier League matches for Wolves, but curiously has only ended on the winning side in three of them (D3 L9).
Crystal Palace - Jean-Philippe Mateta
Mateta is Crystal Palace's top scorer this season, having scored three league goals and laid on one assist. In all competitions, meanwhile, he has five goals.
The Frenchman has scored 16 goals in his last 20 Premier League starts for Crystal Palace. Mateta’s 17 Premier League goals in 2024 are the most by a Palace player in a calendar year.
MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW
Both of these teams have made a poor start to the Premier League season, with Wolves second-bottom of the table and Crystal Palace in 17th after nine matches.
The hosts are one of three teams in the division that are yet to have won a league games this season (D2 L7), though did end a six-match losing run with a 2-2 draw away to Brighton last week.
Wolves are the only team who have not picked up a single point at home this season, while their Molineux losing streak goes back five matches to their previous meeting with Crystal Palace (11 May 2024).
Crystal Palace are yet to win on the road in the league (D1 L3), with their last away win incidentally being their 3-1 reversal of Wolves at Molineux.
Oliver Glasner's side did pick up their first win of the season (D3 L5) last weekend, beating Tottenham 1-0 at home to put them on six points after nine matches.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Wolves - 38.6%
Draw - 27%
Crystal Palace - 34.4%
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