Nuno to tackle Swansea his way in Wolves FA Cup hunt

With the luxury of a 14-point gap to third place, many supporters are hoping Nuno has the inclination to take the competition seriously.

For a start, it’s been a while since Wolves did anything of note in the Cup.

In the mid-1990s, they reached two quarter-finals and a semi-final in the space of five seasons, but since the turn of the century Wolves have just two fifth-round and one last-eight place to their name.

However, such is Wolves’ unstinting confidence both on the pitch and in the stands, there’s a belief that they could beat the vast majority of the 64 teams left in the competition in a one-off game.

Two excellent Carabao Cup performances away at Southampton and Manchester City, who made changes but still fielded strong XIs (the Saints fielded Forster, Romeu Tadic, Austin and Boufal while City had Aguero, Jesus and Sterling up front) have given hope that even a weakened Wolves side could go on an FA Cup run, given that they made 11 and nine changes for the Southampton and City games respectively.

After a gruelling Christmas schedule – and with a number of their star players such as Diogo Jota and Leo Bonatini perhaps in need of a mini breather – it’s unlikely Nuno will name a first-choice team tomorrow.

Instead he will surely give an opportunity to the likes of Kortney Hause, Bright Enobakhare, Alfred N’Diaye, Jack Price, Ruben Vinagre and Will Norris.

The latter didn’t even concede a goal in his four Carabao Cup appearances and he, plus youngsters Morgan Gibbs-White and possibly even Pedro Goncalves and Sherwin Seedorf, will be itching for a taste of first-team action after a barren couple of months in which Nuno has kept changes to his Championship XI to a minimum.

And new £1.5million signing Rafa Mir could also be handed his debut just days after joining from Valencia.

Nuno suggested after Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Brentford that the club’s philosophy in the FA Cup would mirror that of their Carabao Cup exploits.

“Now we are starting to prepare for Swansea,” he said. “We have our own ideas – since day one – what the Cup means to us.

“We will prepare for it well.

“We established an idea and a philosophy with what competitions we had. We had Carabao – and we had a really nice ride there – and the FA Cup is the same but with our ideas. The squad will be important for us.”

Molineux has been healthily stocked in recent months with three sell-outs this season but the tie doesn’t appear to have caught the imagination of their supporters, with thousands of tickets remaining on sale despite a reduced ticket offer.

The bookies make Wolves clear favourites to progress to round four, with many offering 4/5 as opposed to 18/5 for an away win and 12/5 for the draw, despite the club's respective divisions.

Predicted line ups

Wolves (3-4-3): Norris; Bennett, Coady, Hause; Doherty, Price, N'Diaye, Vinagre; Costa, Enobakhare, Mir. Subs: Burgoyne, Boly, Douglas, Gibbs-White, Marshall, Cavaleiro, Bonatini.

Swansea (4-4-2): Nordfeldt; Naughton, van der Hoorn, Hernandez, Olsson; Narsingh, Fer, Mesa, Routledge; McBurnie, Bony.

Key players

Wolves – Bright Enobakhare: The youngster is likely to get a chance to impress after being a late substitute in recent weeks. Has all the talent in the world but needs to find end product.

Swansea – Oli McBurnie: Yet to score a Premier League goal in 15 appearances for the Swans, but hopes are certainly high for the youngster, who has previously ended Wolves’ Wembley hopes. He scored twice for Swansea Under-21s when they dumped Wolves Under-21s out of the Checkatrade Trophy at the Liberty Stadium.

Past five meetings

April 28, 2012 (PL): Swansea 4 (Orlandi 1 Allen 4 Dyer 15 Graham 31) Wolves 4 (Fletcher 28 Jarvis 33, 69 Edwards 54)

October 22, 2011 (PL): Wolves 2 (Doyle 84 O'Hara 86) Swansea 2 (Graham 23 Allen 35)

October 28, 2008 (Ch): Wolves 2 (Ebanks-Blake 45, 57) Swansea 1 (Pratley 49)

October 4, 2008 (Ch): Swansea 3 (Gomez 1 Scotland 41, 57) Wolves 1 (Keogh 16)

September 11, 2002 (LC): Swansea 2 (Thomas 8 Wood 22) Wolves 3 (Blake 16 Pollet 34 Rae 78)