Voices on the game... Wolves

For our latest 'voices', we turn to Johnny Phillips, best known as a broadcaster on Sky Sports, but also a journalist with in-depth knowledge of Sunday's opponents Wolves, plus Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Toby Alderweireld.

Johnny Phillips

Broadcaster and writer, Sky Sports
Columnist, Express & Star, Wolverhampton
Author of book 'Bitten By Wolves'

"Premier League form is good, really good. That’s surprising in a way because it’s a small squad and they also have the Europa League on their minds. The whole thing is based around the shape of the team. They are drilled to the minutiae of the shape they play, and all the players know their roles really well. There is a solid base to the team, and they are so used to playing together because the team very rarely changes. Some of the stuff out there is almost telepathic... Connor Coady spraying the ball around from the sweeper position, Raul Jimenez and Jota linking up like twins, the back three with the wing-backs pushing on, Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho in midfield are as good as anything in terms of their control. It must be hard to play against. You know what is coming but you can’t really do anything about it. They are so hard to disrupt, so well-drilled."

"Nuno approaches every game the same and I believe we get more space in the away matches. At home, teams tend to sit off a little and as a result, we have more space at the back and have big possession stats. Away, our possession is not as much, but we do have the ability to open up teams very quickly, especially with the pace of Adama Traore and Jota. From a Wolves perspective, I actually prefer the away games, we tend to get more space to operate all over the pitch. Wolves and Sheffield United have been hanging in there in the Premier League and all of a sudden, Sunday has become one of the biggest games of our season."

Jose Mourinho

Head Coach, Tottenham Hotspur

"We know how good they are. We know how difficult they are. We know the way we beat them away, such a hard match. I think they are a team where it doesn’t make any difference if they play home or away. They always have the same mentality. We are one point ahead of them in this race and we have to try to win. It’s not because Nuno was my player and is my friend, I think he’s doing an amazing job. Nuno, the players, they are doing amazing, great stability in everything, basically the same players, great intensity in their game, tactically they know exactly what to do in every moment. It’s hard for us, but they also know it’s not easy for them."

Nuno Espirito Santo

Manager, Wolves

"We have to show a lot of respect because the quality’s there. I know how hard it is going to be, because no matter who is not involved, the squad has quality players all over. Of course, Harry Kane is not involved, but there are solutions and Mourinho has been finding solutions, and always been able to compete well and achieving good results, so it’s going to be very tough for us, but we will look forward to it. Jose is a fantastic manager, I know him, I was his former player and I have a lot of admiration for Mourinho; it’s public, and now we are opponents. We are opponents, but always with the respect and admiration of all that Mourinho has achieved.”

Toby Alderweireld

Defender, Tottenham Hotspur

"This is a big game, then we have the FA Cup, another big game at home and then Burnley, then the Champions League. Hopefully we can start well on Sunday to go into all these games with confidence. Wolves are a very good team. They know exactly what they are doing. They have a difficult system to beat, physically strong with exceptional players like Traore, Jimenez, good players in midfield so yes, a difficult game. Traore, you have to defend him as a team, try to know his strengths and that he wants to use his pace outside but then again, you can’t always gamble on that so as a unit, you have to defend. If we can get the win on Sunday, that’s important, that gets the momentum going. We had a good run in the Premier League before the Chelsea game, so we need to get back on track."