Three aspects of the Wolves system for Leeds United to look out for at Molineux

Jon runs All Stats Aren't We, a Leeds United media channel that focuses on the tactical and statistical aspects of the game.

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When you think of Wolverhampton Wanderers, more often than not, you’ll call to mind a team with a close affinity to Portugal which finishes seventh in the Premier League.

This season, though, the plan has come a little unstuck for Nuno Espirito Santo, the Wolves manager.

Losing Raul Jimenez, their talisman striker, has hardly helped.

But it feels as though Wolves are caught in a transition between being a team who are overly defensive and too reliant on certain individuals and a side who are able to create opportunities all over the field.

With safety all but assured, perhaps we’ll see Nuno experimenting a little more in the second half of the season.

Here are three aspects of Nuno’s system to look out for on Friday evening:

1. The Dreaded 3-4-3

It’s a bit of a cliche to cite Leeds’ troubles against the 3-4-3 this season - not least because it stretches the narrative a bit.

Yes, they struggled against Wolves and Leicester at Elland Road.

But they also beat Everton when they played the 3-4-3 and when Leicester switched to 3-4-3 in the second half at the King Power Stadium, Leeds went on to get the win.

However, Leeds do struggle to press a back three out of their 4-4-2 structure so we could still see problems arising on Friday.

2. The Leicester Solution?

Against Leicester’s 3-4-3 at the King Power, Marcelo Bielsa came up with a novel solution to the pressing problem.

Moving Stuart Dallas back to left back from central midfield, Gjanni Alioski pushed forward onto the left wing and Jack Harrison was able to help Patrick Bamford as the second forward presser.

Will we see a similar approach on Friday?

3. Breaking the Low Block

In the Elland Road fixture against Wolves, the away side were very comfortable sitting on a 1-0 lead.

Dropping into a 5-4-1 structure with three big centre backs, they were able to bat away any of Leeds’ attempts to find a teammate in the box from crosses.

Leeds will want to make sure they score first on Friday to make sure they avoid a similar scenario.

If Rodrigo isn’t available, then they won’t have the sort of creativity available to break down a low block. Could we see Pablo Hernandez off the bench, perhaps?

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Thank you Laura Collins