Kevin Thelwell: Wolves 'lucky' to have a manager like Nuno Espirito Santo who embraces youth

Max Kilman, Taylor Perry, Chem Campbell, Dion Sanderson, Luke Cundle and Benny Ashley-Seal are all hoping to follow in the footsteps of Morgan Gibbs-White and make a permanent leap into first team contention.

Kilman is the current trailblazer having made his third start for the club in the 2-1 Europa League victory at Slovan Bratislava.

The centre-half moved to the bench for the 1-1 draw at Newcastle United but is expected to return to the left of the back three for this fourth round clash.

With Wolves’ talismanic centre-half Willy Boly in the treatment room due to his broken ankle and Ryan Bennett (groin) a doubt, this clash could be key for Kilman.

The 22-year-old former England futsal international joined the club from non-league side Maidenhead in 2018.

He made his Premier League debut for Nuno’s side on the final day of the 2018-19 season when Wolves beat Fulham 1-0.

Kilman has built on that this term with starts in the Europa League and in the Carabao Cup third round penalty shoot-out win over Reading last month.

But now with injuries to Boly and Bennett and Real Madrid signing Jesus Vallejo’s failure to take his chances, Kilman is pushing not only for a Carabao Cup start tonight but also a first Premier League start at Arsenal.

Nuno opted to move wing-back Matt Doherty and midfielder Leander Dendoncker into the back three alongside Conor Coady and Romain Saiss at Newcastle.

And for Wolves sporting director Thelwell, Nuno is bucking the trend in the top flight by giving youth a platform.

Now he wants the young crop to build on that platform if they get the chance at Villa tonight.

Thelwell said: “I thought Max did very well on Thursday night (in Bratislava).

“He is a great kid and has a great opportunity to hopefully build on what he did on Thursday night and hopefully play some more minutes before the end of the season. He (Nuno) is doing something that not a lot of people are doing, truth be known,.

“He is saying ‘I want a much leaner squad.

“What I then want to do is get to know the young players, see how good they are and then provide them with more opportunities’.

“You have got Morgan getting more minutes in Bratislava, Taylor on the bench.

“You have Chem Campbell, who is 16, travelling with the first team squad.

“That does not happen very often at this level – Premier League and Europa – so I think we regard ourselves very lucky in having someone who lives those values that are also important to our football club.”

Midfielder Bruno Jordao is also in contention after recovering from the ankle injury he sustained in the last round.

Perry, 18, benefited from that blow as he replaced the goalscorer in the 42nd minute to make his first team debut.

And the youngster would relish the opportunity to make his first start at Villa Park.

He said: “It was my competitive debut (against Reading), so

it was a great feeling for me and my

family, where I’ve come from, it’s a real

moment.

“Hopefully I can carry that on tonight and hopefully we can get the win.

“It’s every boy’s dream, stepping on to the pitch, and at such a big stadium like that, such a big occasion as well, so if I get the chance, hopefully I do, and hopefully I can prove to everyone and take my chance when it comes.”

It will be a sell out crowd at Villa and Perry says the Wolves players need the fans to be their 12th man.

He said: “It’s going to be a great experience travelling to Villa Park.

“They’ve got great fans and it’s a sell-out, the Wolves fans too, so it’s going to be a great atmosphere.

“We need all the fans behind us because it’s going to be a tough game, but hopefully we can come away with the win and put a good performance in for them.

“Any game is going to be tough in the Carabao Cup, so we’ve just got to be prepared and hopefully we can perform, do well and get through to the next round.”