Vitor Pereira made the perfect start to life at Wolverhampton Wanderers, overseeing a comfortable 3-0 away win against Leicester City on Sunday (December 22). It was a dramatically improved performance from the Old Gold under their new Portuguese coach, who replaced Gary O'Neil last week.
Goncalo Guedes opened the scoring in the 19th minute after pouncing on a defensive mix-up between Jannik Vestergaard and Conor Coady. The tricky attacker neatly tucked home the first goal of the Pereira era, and it was plain sailing from there on out for the visitors.
Rodrigo Gomes doubled Wolves' lead 17 minutes later when he capitalized on James Justin's poor judgment of Matt Doherty's long ball into the box. It was 3-0 on the stroke of halftime when Guedes turned provider, working the ball to Matheus Cunha, who found the bottom corner from a tight angle.
It was just what Pereira would have wanted from his side, who put a horror run of four defeats on the bounce behind them. Many of his players were impressive on the day, but Guedes was the cream of the crop.
Guedes Bursts Into Life To Kickstart Pereira's Reign
The Portuguese Ace Proved a Point To O'Neil
Goncalo Guedes
Surprisingly, Guedes started just one of 16 league games under O'Neil this season after returning from a short loan spell at Villarreal. His former manager didn't seem to trust him despite the 32-cap Portugal international bagging four goals and three assists in 15 games across competitions before the Leicester win.
Guedes wanted out of Molineaux amid his lack of a starting role under O'Neil. He was prepared to depart in the January transfer window but that stance might just have changed.
The 28-year-old was handed the opportunity to impress from the off at the King Power and took his chance with aplomb. He was lively throughout, causing the Foxes all sorts of problems on the right, including his neat assist for Cunha's goal.
Guedes could be one to watch under Pereira, who uses a 3-4-3 formation with a pragmatic philosophy. Rosie Tudball of Molineux News gave the Portuguese a high rating of 9/10 for his exploits. She wrote:
O'Neil only handed Guedes a limited chance to show his worth, which is already proving to have been an error. The forward shone particularly in the first half, scoring, assisting and being an all-round handful for the Leicester defence to manage.
Goncalo Guedes Statistics vs Leicester
Minutes Played
Goals
Assists
Accurate Passes
Key Passes
Ground Duels
Expected Goals xG
Wolves' win was just their third this season, which moved them onto 12 points and put them on the brink of breaking out of the relegation spots. They are two points off Leicester, who sit above them in 17th place.
All statistics courtesy ofSofaScore- correct as of 22/12/2024.