Celebrating Craddock's brace for a 2-2 comeback at the Britannia

With Wolves set to go head-to-head at Molineux with Midlands rivals Stoke City on Sunday, and little else to occupy my cotton wool-filled mind, it’s worth taking a little look at our opponents.

This season Wolves have already exceeded my expectations and I hope we’ll secure the points needed to ensure survival very soon, and go on to consolidate next year. Much in the vein of Stoke, in fact, who have certainly been one of the most quietly impressive Premier League success stories of the past two years. Like them or loathe them, it’s hard to disagree that they have done jolly well (WorldWideWolfie hands out patronising virtual pats on the head to the Stoke team at this point).

Stoke finished in a good 12th place in their first Premier League season, and currently look set to improve on that, sitting as they are in 10th. They may have picked up an ugly reputation in their first season for unattractive long ball/long throw thumping, and for kicking chunks out of the opposition, but Stoke are very much on the up – although how much further they, or any club in a similar position, can progress without massive investment is a question the Premier League has still to answer.

I believe that Wolves will show themselves to be the better team on Sunday, however, in terms both of motivation and finesse and, with the home advantage (or perhaps more accurately without Stoke having the home advantage), have enough to nick the win. Stoke sit higher in the table, but Wolves have shown steady improvement, not least in confidence, throughout the season and have played and especially defended with greater conviction since Christmas.

Stoke will be visiting on the back of two victories (against bottom four teams) but Wolves will want to maintain the momentum of recent fine performances and heal a little the wounds of last week’s last minute shocker.

Mick McCarthy’s biggest selection question off the back of a run where he has managed to pick a very stable line up will be who to replace the suspended Karl Henry. I’d favour giving Milijas another go as the only change, to see if he can impress, but expect to see Guedioura, who should should produce a battling performace in the Henry mould, but with an added attacking threat.

Interestingly there is some suggestion that Tony Pulis may decide to rest top scorer Ricardo Fuller, who is sitting on nine yellow cards ahead of this weekend’s amnesty, to avoid risking a suspension.

A close call, but I’ll predict 2-1 Wolves.