Preview: Young Boys v Wolves

Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers looks ahead to the game.

Lowdown

Football may not be coming home but how about the Uhrencup?!

Wolves will earn some pre-season silverware if they beat Swiss champions Young Boys on Saturday afternoon.

Young Boys beat Feyenoord 3-0 in midweek, making this a winner-takes-all friendly in the 54th edition of the historic pre-season competition, which is in a group stage format where every team plays two games each. Draws are decided by penalties.

Wolves would become the third English team to win the tournament after Ipswich Town in 1963 and Stoke City last year.

There's only a week to go before the Swiss league season starts so Young Boys are way ahead of Wolves in their pre-season preparations.

But then again so were Basel – and Wolves were fairly comfortable when beating them 2-1 on Tuesday night.

For Wolves the priority is performance and match fitness, although Nuno certainly won't mind them keeping their winning habit going too.

Team news

Wolves' squad has changed a little this week with Roderick Miranda leaving the group to join Olympiakos on loan and Bright Enobakhare joining up with his team mates yesterday, following a delay over visa issues.

Nuno played two teams for 45 minutes each during the Basel win and will probably look to do the same again here.

Youngsters including Ryan Giles – who featured at wing back – and central midfielders Elliot Watt and Pedro Goncalves impressed in the Basel game and will want to take another rare opportunity with both hands.

Wolves have four pre-season games to go when they return to England, playing Ajax, Stoke City, Derby County and Villarreal, as well as taking part in the one-day H-Hotels Cup in Germany on July 22 when they will play two 45 minute matches.

Squad

Goalkeepers: John Ruddy, Will Norris, Andreas Sondergaard

Defenders: Willy Boly, Conor Coady, Danny Batth, Ryan Bennett, Kortney Hause, Cameron John

Wing backs: Matt Doherty, Barry Douglas, Oskar Buur Rasmussen, Ryan Giles

Midfielders: Ruben Neves, Morgan Gibbs-White, Pedro Goncalves, Elliott Watt

Forwards: Diogo Jota, Ivan Cavaleiro, Helder Costa, Leo Bonatini, Rafa Mir, Benny Ashley-Seal, Bright Enobakhare

Line ups against Basel: First half – Ruddy; Batth, Hause, John; Rasmussen, Goncalves, Watt, Giles; Mir, Ashley-Seal, Cavaleiro. Second half – Norris; Bennett, Coady, Boly; Doherty, Neves, Gibbs-White, Douglas; Costa, Bonatini, Jota.

Young Boys become men

Young Boys came into pre-season having won the Swiss league title for the first time since 1986, ending eight years of Basel dominance in style by finishing 15 points clear of their title rivals and sparking wild scenes of jubilation in the capital city.

They scored 84 goals in 36 games with Guillaume Hoarau (15) and Jean-Pierre Nsame (13) top scorers.

Traditionally they're the fourth most successful side in Swiss football history behind Grasshopper Zurich, Basel and Servette.

Their most well-known player is former Ajax winger and Serbian international Miralem Sulejmani.

Location

Young Boys are based in Bern at Stade de Suisse but this game is being played two miles away at the tiny Stadion Neufeld, which only has one stand (3,000 seats) and a running track.

Young Boys play their youth games there and it's also the home of lower league team FC Bern.

How to keep track

The Express & Star will be carrying live tweets from Tim Spiers and Nathan Judah through the game, plus there'll be a detailed match report and the usual post-match reaction and analysis.

The game is available to watch on Wolves TV for £5.

And for anyone in Switzerland there are tickets on the door at Stadion Neufeld.

Kick off is 3pm Swiss time or 2pm BST.