Key events
Fairly pleased with a score of 13/16 in that quiz.
On an entirely different note, how many fans en route to Molineux jumped out of their skin as a result of that government alert everyone got?! So loud.
Less than half an hour until KO. A few more Championship plugs.
A big EFL preview podcast:
A quiz:
And the full official written preview, listing this year’s runners and riders:
Formation-wise, a few outlets have Wolves listed in a 4-2-3-1, rather than the 3-4-2-1 I outlined earlier on. Looks like Rodrigo Gomes could play as a genuine winger rather than a wing-back.
Wolves are also without Hwang Hee-Chan, Sasa Kalajdzic, Santiago Bueno and Ladislav Krejci for a variety of reasons. Damn, they’ve got a strong squad for the Championship, even if a couple of the aforementioned depart.
I must plug a number of our other Championship-related pieces, before we get closer to kick off.
Here’s one, as Ben Fisher spoke to Kieran Trippier about dropping down to the second tier and his new challenge at Wolves.
I’m not ashamed to go to the Championship because I played in it for many years. I had a good chat with Eddie Howe and made my decision at the end of the season that I wanted to try something new. There were a few [interested] clubs but it was important for me that I was close to my children.
You wonder if Tony Mowbray might equate his current squad, Forrest Gump-style, to a bag of Revels. He is seemingly a world expert on the chocolate, according to this video which has been doing the rounds this week.
It says much about Blackburn’s summer that their starting lineup tonight includes zero new signings. Sam Morsy and Jayden Fevrier have arrived but both start on the bench tonight, while the only other summer addition, Moussa Baradji, is among those out injured.
A shameless self-plug here, but Blackburn were one of the clubs I wrote about earlier this week when assessing the Championship scene before tonight’s curtain-raiser, and why they’re among the clubs not feeling the new season buzz so much.
Team news
Wolves: Bentley; Trippier, Mosquera, T.Gomes; R.Gomes, André, Munetsi, Möller Wolfe; Lopez, Mané; Armstrong.
Subs: Sá, Bueno, Jiménez, Lima, Doyle, Chirewa, Djiga, Tchatchoua, Edozie.
Blackburn: Toth; Alebiosu, Atcheson, McLoughlin, Pickering; Forshaw, Montgomery; Afolayan, Cantwell, Morishita; Gudjohnsen.
Subs: Pears, Ribeiro, Tavares, Morsy, Fevrier, Carter, Henriksson, Ohashi, Garrett.
Preamble
Good evening folks! The English domestic season proper starts here. A balmy summer’s night, a new season full of hope and optimism (well, for some)… if you cannot get excited for this one, I’m afraid you’re in the wrong game.
Two teams with new managers clash at Molineux hoping to set the right kind of tone for their seasons. Wolves, having surprisingly sacked Rob Edwards in the summer, have César Peixoto at the helm for his league match, while Tony Mowbray returns to the Blackburn Rovers dugout hoping his experience can steer them away from the relegation fight many predict.
Wolves have kept a good number of their best players post-relegation, have recruited well and are understandably among those tipped for promotion. They’re big favourites to start with a win tonight. But the beauty of the Championship is you just never know – and the first game of the season is as near to a complete unknown as you can get in modern football. Kick off is at 8pm BST – stay tuned for regular live updates.