Wolves blog: Crunch time for Nuno's men

Over the last eight games, Cardiff have been in devastating form and have clawed back eight points on Wolves, leaving them just six behind with a game in hand.

All the early-season talk of Wolves being promoted in February or March subsided as Wolves have probably had a tougher second half of the season, while the likes of Cardiff and Fulham have been racking up long undefeated streaks of 13 and 18 respectively.

Hull’s was an example of a proper Championship performance on Tuesday night – in this league any team can beat anyone on their day, and they were well worth a share of the spoils.

Wolves were obviously missing their star player, Ruben Neves, and were unable to unlock Hull’s defence with the ease Ruben normally does.

Matt Doherty was also a big miss, with Nuno trying first Ryan Bennett, Ivan Cavaleiro and finally debutant and debut goalscorer Oskar Buur Rasmussen trying their hand at wing back.

There was a slight air of complacency after taking the lead and this is something Wolves need to stamp out, certainly until promotion is assured.

Wolves will be back to full strength against Cardiff, with Diogo Jota, who made a surprise return on Tuesday, also in contention.

Ultimately, Wolves are one point closer and eight away from sealing promotion – with six games to go, they are in an extremely favourable position.

What isn’t so clear cut is the battle for the title – a defeat against Cardiff will open the door for them to catch us if they can beat Derby in their game in hand.

Promotion is obviously the primary goal, but for Wolves to have led the table since beating Villa at Molineux, barring one game off the top after that loss to QPR, it would leave a bitter taste if they relinquished their hold on the Championship trophy.

You have to give Cardiff, and Neil Warnock, credit – they have managed more than a two points-per- game average and are still not top of the league.

Despite the doubts they would keep up their form, compounded by a run of four straight losses over Christmas, they haven’t lost since.

It looks like the bookies are struggling to predict the outcome of the game, with them all putting Wolves as slight favourites but being unable to decide if a draw or a Cardiff win is more likely.

If Wolves manage the first goal against Cardiff it would be a strong foothold in the game – they have scored first in eleven of their 20 away games and have won every single one of them.

It will be interesting to see Wolves’ reaction from the draw against Hull in such a big match – the last time they had a ‘big match’ against Villa, they capitulated.

As Nuno would tell you, every game is now Wolves’ biggest game of the season – but there are none more so than a first-versus- second battle of the league’s best two teams, and this is the kind of games Wolves, Cardiff and both sets of fans should relish.