Express & Star

Carabao Cup: Wolves 2 Burnley 0 - report

A Goncalo Guedes brace took Wolves through into the third round of the Carabao Cup with victory over Burnley.

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Goncalo Guedes (Getty)

After a tricky opening few minutes, Wolves took control of the contest against their Championship opponents and opened their account as Guedes bundled home his first.

The hosts continued to control the game and a delightful chip from Guedes in the second half, who had been sent clean through on goal, secured his and Wolves’ second of the night.

Wolves saw the rest of the game out with ease to secure their place in the next round.

Analysis

Gary O’Neil made 10 changes from the team that lost to Chelsea at the weekend, and stuck with the 4-2-3-1 formation.

Rayan Ait-Nouri was the only player to keep his place, while Pedro Lima made his Wolves debut.

Wolves target Luca Koleosho was not named in the Burnley squad.

Wolves made a slow start to the game with too many wayward passes and sloppy moments.

But a wonderful cross-field pass by Tommy Doyle opened the game up and resulted in a blocked shot from Guedes, as Wolves created an opening.

Boubacar Traore came close when he met a deep Pablo Sarabia free-kick, but he directed his effort over the bar.

Wolves came even closer when Daniel Podence forced Vaclav Hladky into a good save and the goalkeeper then did superbly well to push Lima’s follow-up onto the post.

Chiquinho saw a strong effort saved before a fantastic solo run from Ait-Nouri saw him dance through several players and get through on goal, but his low effort was also saved.

Wolves then got their goal with a simple but impressive move. Craig Dawson’s excellent cross-field pass found Lima, who put in a first time cross for Guedes to bundle home.

The hosts had some bad news just before half-time, however, when Traore limped off with a suspected hamstring issue and was replaced by Mario Lemina.

As Wolves came out in the second half they made the perfect start by scoring in less than 10 minutes.

A superb Podence through ball put Guedes through on goal and he kept his cool to chip it over Hladky.

Wolves were in control and came close to scoring a third when Toti Gomes met a corner, but he directed his free header from close range over the bar.

Podence attempted an audacious lob from just inside the box but Hladky got fingertips to it.

In the end, Wolves hardly came out of first gear to see the game out and secure the win.

Key Moments

GOAL 38 Guedes bundles home the opener

GOAL 54 Guedes grabs his second with a delightful chip

Teams

Wolves: Bentley, Lima, Bueno, Dawson (Toti, 62), Ait-Nouri (Doherty, 62), Doyle, Traore (Lemina, 45), Sarabia (Hwang, 62), Podence, Chiquinho, Guedes (Bellegarde, 75).

Subs not used: King, Rawlings, R.Gomes, Larsen.

Burnley: Hladky, Sambo, Worrall (Hugill, 79), Egan-Riley (Roberts, 45), Brownhill (McDermott, 45), Rodriguez (Foster, 56), Humphreys, Mejbri (Pires, 45), McNally, Hountondji, Massengo.

Subs not used: Green, Esteve, Westley, Masara.