EPL

Wolves head coach Lage to miss Chelsea trip with COVID-19

By Sports Desk May 06, 2022

Wolves will be without head coach Bruno Lage for Saturday's trip to Chelsea in the Premier League after he contracted coronavirus.

Lage returned a positive COVID-19 test on Friday, with Wolves confirming he will not travel with the squad to Stamford Bridge.

Coronavirus restrictions in the United Kingdom have been all but removed in recent months, but government guidance does still urge people to "try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for five days".

Lage's absence comes as a blow for Wolves at a critical stage of the season as they still harbour hopes of qualifying for the Europa Conference League.

Wolves, who have lost four of their past five including three on the bounce, are three points behind West Ham in the final European qualification spot but have a game in hand on the Hammers.

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    Antoine Semenyo scored the only goal of the game as 10-man Bournemouth moved into the top half of the Premier League by beating Wolves 1-0.

    Semenyo struck after 37 minutes to deservedly give the Cherries all three points at Molineux, where Wolves had two goals disallowed.

    Hwang Hee-chan and Max Kilman thought they had scored equalisers, with the latter netting in the final moments of stoppage time, but Wolves' luck was out.

    Milos Kerkez saw red for Bournemouth late on, but they held firm to inflict defeat on their former boss Gary O'Neil, whose Wolves team sit 12th.

    Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa was forced into action twice as Bournemouth started well, pushing Semenyo's deflected effort wide before clawing away Marco Senesi's header from the resulting corner.

    The hosts nearly gifted the Cherries an opener when Tommy Doyle lost possession inside his own half and Dominic Solanke was played in on goal, but Kilman came up with a vital intervention.

    Wolves' first attempt on goal came when Ryan Christie was dispossessed inside his own half, but Mark Travers, making his maiden league start of the season, was able to tip behind Pablo Sarabia’s curling effort.

    But the Cherries deservedly went ahead before half-time when Semenyo finished coolly following a free-flowing attacking move.

    Bournemouth nearly doubled their lead inside the first 10 minutes of the second half when Justin Kluivert deflected Senesi's shot towards goal, forcing Sa into a smart reaction save.

    Wolves thought they had an equaliser when Hwang headed home from Nelson Semedo's cross, but the goal was disallowed following a VAR review as Matheus Cunha was deemed to have committed a foul in the build-up.

    Kerkez was sent off, with VAR confirming the onfield decision, for a rash lunge on Matt Doherty in the 79th minute, but Wolves were unable to make their numerical advantage count, with Kilman adjudged to have strayed marginally offside when he swept home at the death.

    Toothless Wolves seeing their season fade out

    Wolves boss O'Neil could not complete the league double against his former employers as his side's winless streak stretched to six league games.

    Even with the returning quartet of Semedo, Sarabia, Mario Lemina and Rayan Ait-Nouri, Wolves struggled to get going as an attacking force.

    Sarabia passed up the chance to connect with Hwang's cross before Mario Lemina had a shot deflect over and Ait-Nouri curled an effort wide in their only show of attacking intent in the first half.

    They may have had two goals disallowed, but it was all in all a rather toothless attacking display, and Wolves' European hopes have swiftly drifted away.

    Cherries on course for record points tally

    Bournemouth ended their three-match winless run, and it was ultimately an excellent first-half display that was crucial in getting the job done.

    Even Kerkez's recklessness late on was not enough to put them off course, and they now need only two points from their remaining four Premier League fixtures to surpass their record tally of 46 set in the 2016-17 season. 

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    The former Barcelona midfielder announced in January that he would walk away from the job at the end of the current season, even though his contract was due to run until the end of the following term.

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    Though that undefeated streak ended with a 4-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain that dumped Barcelona out of the Champions League quarter-finals, Xavi has now agreed to stay in his role.

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  • Grant McCann hails ‘outstanding’ response as Doncaster close on play-off spot Grant McCann hails ‘outstanding’ response as Doncaster close on play-off spot

    Grant McCann was a proud man after Doncaster won 4-1 at Colchester to register a 10th straight victory and move into the play-off places.

    Colchester took a ninth-minute lead through Jayden Fevrier, who converted Tom Hopper’s cross at the far post, but remain in relegation danger after Rovers’ emphatic comeback.

    Luke Molyneux equalised after collecting Jamie Sterry’s short free-kick and scoring with a low 25-yard shot and Doncaster took a 22nd-minute lead through Harrison Biggins, who netted from close range from Molyneux’s delivery.

    Tom Anderson netted a third in the 76th minute at the near post from Hakeeb Adelakun’s pass, and Joe Ironside sealed victory when he converted after Sam Hornby had tipped James Maxwell’s shot onto a post.

    A point on the final day against Gillingham will seal a play-off spot regardless of results elsewhere and McCann said: “I’m really proud.

    “Obviously conceding early wasn’t ideal for us but the response was outstanding.

    “We scored two very good goals, the first one from Mols (Molyneux) and the second one was another very good goal and something we knew could help us in the game, Biggo’s (Biggins) runs from the centre circle in between the posts after good play by Mols.

    “In the first half, we were a little bit edgy and it was a little bit even Steven in the game.

    “But in the second half, we were really comfortable and scored another couple of really good goals.

    “We always play for more goals; we never sit tight and take what we’ve got – that’s just the way we like to go about things.

    “We came up against a team that’s obviously down the wrong end of the table and we knew it was going to be tough.”

    Fevrier had Colchester on track to secure survival but they go into Saturday’s final game just three points above the drop zone, with their goal difference superior by four over Sutton.

    Colchester boss Danny Cowley said: “It was a tough night for us.

    “We have the ability to self-harm, to self-destruct, in a game where we let four terrible goals in.

    “For 75 minutes, it was 2-1 and they’ve had three shots at goal, two from 30 yards, and somehow they’re winning the game.

    “We were 2-1 down at half-time where we felt we shouldn’t have been, as we’d done a lot right.

    “We were in total ascendency and they don’t even want to score any more goals, they want to hang onto what they’ve got and we gift them another two goals.

    “I’ve just looked back at the goals and they’re very hard to defend.

    “We actually played well box to box but you can’t say you’ve played well when we’ve conceded the goals that we have.

    “It’s a damaging night and I’m really angry. We just did the basics so poorly.”

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