Pereira In Dream Start With Wolves Beating Leicester 3-0
Vitor Pereira believes “we will stay in the Premier League” after his Wolves reign got off to a dream start with a comfortable away win against fellow strugglers Leicester.
The Portuguese coach was appointed as Gary O’Neil’s successor on Thursday and made four changes to the side that suffered a late 2-1 home defeat by Ipswich last week.
Two of those he brought in were compatriots Goncalo Guedes and Rodrigo Gomes, and both pounced inside the opening 36 minutes.
Top scorer Matheus Cunha also took advantage of some sloppy Leicester defending to add a third with his ninth goal of the season right before half-time.
Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy made a double change at half-time, then another just seven minutes into the second half.
But the hosts barely threatened as Wolves halted a four-match losing streak to move within two points of Leicester, who are one place above the relegation zone.
“I believe that we will stay in the Premier League and we will play at a better level than we saw today,” Pereira told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Today I am happy, as the team showed spirit and that spirit is what Wolves supporters want to see.”
Pereira’s first game as a Premier League manager has been a long time coming.
The 56-year-old thought he was going to be given the Everton job in 2013, and says he “did many job interviews with English clubs”.
A two-time title winner with Porto, he has finally been given an opportunity in England, but surely did not imagine making such a comfortable start.
Wolves were 3-0 up by half-time, but that is not to say Pereira has suddenly transformed them into a more fearsome attacking force – they simply took their chances when they came along.
The first goal came after Nelson Semedo chipped a speculative ball down the right channel, which somehow found its way to Goncalo Guedes in the box. The Portugal forward, making just his second league start of the season, managed to hook it past Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward with the first shot of Pereira’s tenure.
Matt Doherty then hit a hopeful diagonal ball towards Leicester right-back James Justin, who chose to let the ball go past him without realising that Gomes had got in behind.
Gomes took a heavy touch on his chest before trying to poke the ball goalwards. Although he failed to connect, it still went past Ward and into the Leicester net as the keeper had dived to his right, anticipating another touch from Gomes.
Then as half-time approached, Semedo played a ball down the right wing for Guedes, who was allowed to turn back inside and find Cunha, with the Brazil striker showing great composure to slot the ball beyond Ward and in off the far post.
Leicester swiftly made a host of substitutions, but Wolves still went closest to scoring after the break, through Santiago Bueno and Joao Gomes.
“In three days, to organise the team and give them confidence to play – that is hard,” Pereira added.
“I asked them to be proud of our work at the end of the game and to make the supporters proud of our work.”
