Matt Doherty wants Wolves to shut out Newcastle United

Seventh-placed Wolves have only lost five times in the league, but have picked up just four clean sheets in the Premier League.

Wolves secured nine shut-outs in their 2018/19 season and, after a 0-0 draw with Manchester United in the FA Cup, Doherty is keen to add more clean sheets in the second half of this season.

He said: “You always want a clean sheet. If you get a clean sheet then you are going to win the game 80-90 per cent of the time. Obviously as a defender you want to keep your sheet clean, so I guess it’s a good start to the new year.”

Wolves drew 1-1 at Newcastle in October’s reverse fixture.

It was their first league game without centre-half Willy Boly, who had sustained a broken fibula slipping in training the day before.

That absence saw Doherty move to centre-back, but that shift lasted until half-time as Leander Dendoncker moved back to join Conor Coady and Romain Saiss.

With Boly still unavailable, that had been Nuno’s preferred trio, until he made changes for the 1-0 defeat at Liverpool in the final game of 2019.

Max Kilman and Ryan Bennett have since rotated in and out of the starting XI, with Kilman starting the 0-0 draw with United alongside Coady and Dendoncker.

Doherty says the defence looked solid and is eager to complete the job at Old Trafford next week.

He said: “Some of the forward players they have and yet our defence looked pretty solid again, especially with some changes.

“We restricted them to no shots on target, but we didn’t manage to win the game so it is a little bit disappointing.

“But we are still there and we still have another chance in the replay.”

Wolves are also looking for their first win of 2020 having failed to bounce back from a narrow defeat at Liverpool on New Year's Day at Watford.

Nuno’s side have only lost five times in the league this term and Doherty hopes a return to Molineux can help them return to winning ways.

He said: “We’ve lost the last two league games and we aren’t used to losing too many games.

“We’re at home again. If the atmosphere is as good as it has been for the last few home games then it will obviously benefit us. “We will come here believing we can win.”