One To Watch: Helder Costa

Never has a match been so important as is the case for Wolverhampton Wanderers against Birmingham City tomorrow night in the evening kick off. This may be a slight exaggeration as the Bolton Wanderers game, now dubbed as the Caddis escape, had a lot riding on it but you get the point. It is Zola’s neck on the line too as despite the board saying he isn’t under pressure, we all know that he is and so points are crucial for him and for the club.

It doesn’t really help that the expectations are high going into the game. A lot of bluenoses that I have spoken to actually believe we will win the game despite the poor run of form. One of the reasons given was due to Wolves lack of form as well. They have lost to Burton and Wigan in recent weeks who are both towards the foot of the table and that added in with the Chelsea defeat isn’t great reading for fans of the host team. But football is a funny game and it doesn’t matter whether you’ve lost the last 100 games, it’s all about what you do in this one so anything could happen.

With the game also being classed as a derby, it is pretty spicy and that is great news for Birmingham City who often put up a good fight because the very vocal fans lift the team. We really are a credit on match days especially in derbies. There wouldn’t be a derby without Davis and I am very glad that he is back from suspension because the ex-Wolves man loves nothing more than a derby and his performances show that especially shown in his celebration after netting the last goal against Aston Villa.

So who to look out for? Well, Wolves have a decent team and a lot of youngsters such as George Saville are gaining more and more experience which is great to see. But my one to watch has to be Helder Costa. It’s not often that a Championship club purchases a player from Benfica but Costa has joined Wolves permanently until 2021 for a fee of 13 million pounds. He has become accustomed to English football after being on loan previously before the deal was made a permanent move and he is very much an all round star.

Considering the lack of confidence our fullbacks have recently, I must say I am worried about the threat that Costa poses. He has the aura of unpredictability which is very hard to play against as he can dribble and use either foot to display the most effective tricks in the Championship. He really does have it all. He can finish most chances that he gets with ease as well as set up other team mates. He also is faster than he looks and is often instrumental when Wolves do go on the break. I don’t have enough words to say how impressed I have been with him and so I would look for our wingers to try and track back with him and never leave him isolated one v one with the defender.

If we can keep Costa quiet then I don’t think that they pose much of a threat up front so I would hope that we could keep a clean sheet if all goes well. Please don’t blame me if it doesn’t, I’m merely just a writer. But all jokes aside, this win is crucial not only for Zola but for the team to have momentum in the closing stages of the season.