With no wins from their first 10 Premier League games for the second season in a row, what hopes do Wolverhampton Wanderers have of staying up?
As déjà vu goes, it was not the most welcome for Wolves.
A 3-0 loss at Fulham last weekend left them still looking for their first Premier League win of the season after 10 games for the second season in a row.
10 – Wolves have failed to win any of their opening 10 league games in both of their last two seasons (D2 L8 this season & D3 L7 in 2024-25); as many times as in their 125 previous campaigns in the top four tiers (1926-27 and 1983-84). Capitulation. pic.twitter.com/qmvVPB3qkM
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 1, 2025
There have been 20 previous occasions of a team having no wins after 10 Premier League games of a season, with only six of them ultimately avoiding relegation.
However, more concerning for Wolves is that there have only been five instances of a team winning as few as two points after 10 games in a Premier League campaign, and all have ended in relegation.
Teams with 2- points after 10 games Premier League
Even expanding that across English top-flight history, only Stoke City in 1951-52 and Leicester City in 1983-84 have ever survived despite having two points from 10 games (converting to three points for a win).
Following their disappointing loss at Craven Cottage, Wolves decided to cut ties with manager Vitor Pereira, just 45 days after giving the Portuguese coach a new contract.
On top of that, director of professional football Domenico Teti left the club on Tuesday after only arriving in June, while a reported plan to bring Gary O’Neil back – who was sacked last season after overseeing their poor start to 2024-25 – fell down when the former Bournemouth boss withdrew from the running.
It all seems rather chaotic at Molineux, but whoever eventually comes through the door to replace Pereira, they will need to get the team back on track quickly.
While they were reduced to 10 men following the red card for Emmanuel Agbadou in the first half, Wolves hadn’t looked like getting much from their trip to Fulham prior to that dismissal, and there are some tricky games on the horizon for them.
There have only been 10 instances of a team going more games without winning in a Premier League season, and no team has ever gone more than 17 games without a win. Wolves’ next seven games are against Chelsea (A), Crystal Palace (H), Aston Villa (A), Nottingham Forest (H), Manchester United (H), Arsenal (A) and Brentford (H). Should they fail to win any of those, they’ll be in real risk of setting a new record as their next two after that are away to Liverpool and Man Utd.
Of course, in that scenario, relegation would be practically guaranteed, but the main thing Wolves have to remember is that they were in almost this exact situation last season, with three draws and seven losses from their first 10, and they survived rather comfortably in the end.
When Pereira came in last December, Wolves had two wins from 16 games, and were five points from safety. However, from there they won 10 of 22 games before the end of the season, as many as Chelsea, Brighton and Palace (10). Only six teams won more in the Premier League.
As well as that, they were obviously helped by the fact that the three promoted teams struggled badly, which doesn’t look like happening this season. In fact, Wolves have already lost to all three newly promoted teams, though could perhaps consider themselves unlucky to have done so, which we’ll come to shortly.
Burnley sit 17th on 10 points after 10 games. At this stage last season, the team in 17th (Crystal Palace) had seven points. It does seem likely teams will need more points to stay up than they did in 2024-25.
Premier League table after MD10 Wolves
What has gone wrong for Wolves this season after going so right in the second half of their last campaign, though?
They lost some of their best and most experienced players in the summer in Matheus Cunha, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Gonçalo Guedes, Pablo Sarabia and captain Nélson Semedo.
Their slump began before the end of last season, not winning any of their last four games after a run of six wins. That means they’re currently on a run of 14 league games without victory (D3 L11), their second worst run in the Premier League (after 17 – D6 L11 – that ended on 25 August 2018).
Wolves have averaged 48.4% possession in Premier League games this season, more than eight other teams, but as you can see from below graphic, they have not been besting their opponents with more touches in many areas outside of their own penalty area. That lack of control could be why they have struggled in terms of game management.
Wolves zones of control 2025-26
Defensively, their numbers aren’t terrible. They may have conceded more goals than any other team (22), but six teams have faced more shots (126) and 10 have a higher expected goals (xG) total against (13.0 xG). Their underperformance of 9.0 for goals conceded vs xG against is comfortably the most in the league.
They are struggling at the other end too, still underperforming compared to their xG (seven goals from 9.5 xG), but not to the same extent. Three teams have had fewer shots, and three have a lower xG.
They’ve struggled to get the best out of star striker Jørgen Strand Larsen, who managed 14 goals in 35 Premier League games last season, but has just one in eight in 2025-26.
In fact, no player has scored more than once for Wolves in the Premier League, and no-one has more than one assist. Only Marshall Munetsi and Ladislav Krejcí have one of each.
There has been a lot of talk about how poor their summer business was, but it seems the biggest issues are that none of their signings had any previous Premier League experience and have come into a team struggling to recreate last season’s form. Munetsi is the only player who played for Wolves last season who has produced an assist (one each for new signings Krejcí, Fer López and David Møller Wolfe).
Perhaps as a result of form and uncertainty over using his new players, Pereira struggled to find a team he trusted. He made 31 changes to his starting XI in the first 10 games of the season, the most in the Premier League. That inconsistency may not have helped a team lacking in confidence, particularly against more settled opponents.
One player who has impressed has been Hugo Bueno, who has created 13 chances from open play – only 10 players have produced more in the Premier League – but none have been turned into goals.
Hugo Bueno chances created 2025-26
That inability to take advantage of creating chances coupled with giving up soft ones has been a bad mix. Wolves have made more errors leading to goals than any other team in the Premier League this season (four), though have perhaps been a bit unlucky compared to other error-prone teams. They have only conceded seven shots due to errors, half as many as Tottenham, who have only conceded three goals from them. In fact, nine teams have allowed more shots from errors, including Liverpool (10), Chelsea (10), Man Utd (8) and Man City (8), but none have conceded as many from them.
After all that negativity, though, it’s time to look at reasons for optimism, Wolves fans.
Despite zero wins, it must be said that Pereira’s side did at least win the xG battle in four of their 10 games, against Leeds United, Tottenham, Sunderland and Burnley. In fact, when you look at Opta’s expected points model, Wolves could claim to have been somewhat unfortunate.
Expected points simulates the number of goals scored in each match using the xG value of every shot. It then simulates the outcome (win/draw/loss) 10,000 times per match. Each team’s expected points are calculated based on how often they win, draw, or lose across those simulations. It’s not an exact science, as expected goals data doesn’t include a lot of factors, such as game state and dangerous periods of possession that don’t lead to shots, but it can at least give an indication of how much teams deserve.
According to our model, Wolves should have at least 11 points rather than the two they currently have, and should not even be in the relegation zone (expected points position of 16th).
Premier League expected points after MD10
Wolves are in a bad way, but they are far from a lost cause. It was easy to write them off last season and few would have seen their dramatic uptick in form coming. Their underlying numbers suggest there is at least potential to work with, but whoever the new manager is, it is easier said than done to bring it out of them.
Premier League Stats Opta
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