O’Neil must ruthlessly ditch Doyle to unleash Wolves’ “exciting” £60k-p/w star

Wolverhampton Wanderers suffered their second Premier League defeat in three games last weekend as they lost 2-1 to West Ham United, despite leading the match by a goal to nil at one stage.

Gary O’Neil will be hoping he can end the Old Gold’s winless run against Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon, especially with a top half finish in danger if they don’t start picking up three points.

Tommy Doyle’s game in numbers against West Ham
The on-loan Manchester City starlet was deployed alongside Rayan Ait-Nouri as an attacking midfielder, but he didn’t quite enjoy the best of matches.

He did manage three shots during the match while making one key pass, but he was unsuccessful with all four of his crosses.

Defensively, Doyle won just one of the three ground duels he contested throughout the clash, while losing possession 11 times and being dribbled past once.

A slightly more advanced role failed to bring the best out of the player and with Matheus Cunha coming off the bench against the Irons last week, O’Neil should consider unleashing him in place of Doyle against Forest.

Matheus Cunha’s season in numbers for Wolves

The Brazilian is currently the joint top scorer among the entire Wolves squad, sitting alongside Hwang Hee-Chan on 11 goals since the start of the campaign.

The Old Gold netted just 31 Premier League goals last season, but they are currently on 44 for 2023/24 thus far, with seven games to go.

Cunha has contributed to 15 of these, showing how important the former Atlético Madrid forward has been to their cause this term.

The £60k-per-week machine currently ranks in the top 3% when compared to positional peers in Europe’s top five leagues for both progressive carries (3.81) and successful take-ons (2.6) per 90 over the previous 365 days, showing that he loves to challenge opposition players on a regular basis along with taking the ball into the final third.

Among the Wolves squad, Cunha also ranks second for big chances created (seven), third for key passes per game (one) and first for successful dribbles per game (2.1) in the top flight this term, which is further evidence of how crucial he has been this season.

He was hailed by journalist Ninad Barbadikar during his spell with RB Leipzig a few years ago, who said: “Really excited to reveal this one tomorrow, Matheus Cunha is one of the most exciting players in the Bundesliga at the moment. What an incredible goal that was!”

If he is near 100% match fit, then O’Neil should have no qualms about unleashing the player just behind the striker, especially with three points absolutely vital this afternoon.

There is no doubt Cunha could make a huge difference, given his impressive statistics, while having someone like Doyle coming off the bench could give the club a boost as the game is heading into the final quarter.