Wolves are finishing the season with a whimper, losing their penultimate match against Crystal Palace 4-2.
Wolves have now suffered three losses on the trot, and fans are frustrated with what they are seeing after previously going on a run of six straight wins.
Wolves took the lead against Palace through Emmanuel Agbadou, but quickly relinquished their lead.
Eddie Nketiah scored twice for Palace, who then took the game away from Wolves in the second half.
Ben Chilwell scored a free-kick which took a deflection to wrong-foot Dan Bentley, before Eberechi Eze sealed the win late on.
There was a positive though in that Jorgen Strand Larsen surpassed Raul Jimenez’s first season goal tally at Wolves.
Vitor Pereira made six changes to his starting XI last night, and one man who lost his starting berth was Matheus Cunha.
Vitor Pereira insists Matheus Cunha decision wasn’t due to Manchester United speculation
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Cunha was benched last night, which is what a lot of Wolves fans had wanted to see.
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Cunha is closing in on a move to Manchester United, with confirmation of the move expected quite soon.
Some felt it wasn’t appropriate for him to play last night, but Pereira did bring him off the bench in the second half.
After the game, the manager was asked about that decision, but the Portuguese said it had nothing to do with the Manchester United transfer speculation.
Paraphrasing, journalist Nathan Judah relayed the message from Pereira: “Matheus Cunha omission nothing to do with Manchester United rumours.
Pereira also said: “We gave minutes to players who have worked hard in training, but we cannot come here and make the mistakes we have.”
Ahead of this game with Palace, Pereira had suggested he’d still play Cunha in Wolves’ remaining games.
Cunha omission understandable
Photo by Jack Thomas - WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images
Photo by Jack Thomas – WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images
Pereira was never likely to admit he didn’t start Cunha due to outside noise.
That said, he may genuinely have just felt this was a game to make changes, with nothing really on the line for Wolves.
It is clear that Cunha will be leaving, and so – given his move to Manchester United appears to be nailed-on – it made little sense to start him at Selhurst Park.
Matheus Cunha for Wolves in 2024/25
Appearances – 35
Minutes played – 2742
Goals – 17
Assists – 6
Hopefully, Wolves can now just get his exit sorted nice and quickly ahead of the summer.
One wonders if there will be any announcement from Wolves or Cunha himself ahead of the final game at Molineux with Brentford.