Premier League 2018/19 review: Wolves finish season as best of the rest

After cruising to the Premier League as Championship winners last season, most tipped Wolves to beat the drop with ease and establish themselves as a real force in the division. It has perhaps gone better than expected for Nuno’s side, who secured seventh place with a game to spare.

Wolves are officially the best of the rest, the highest place team outside the established top-six, arguably enjoying better seasons than Arsenal and Manchester United directly above them. Furthermore, Wolves have finished a Premier League campaign with the most points (57) set by a newly promoted team since Ipswich finished the 2000/01 campaign with 66.

Wolves produced their best displays when they faced the league’s best. Nuno’s side have remarkably beaten all four of the finalists in the two European club competitions at one stage this season and took 16 points off the top-six, more than any other side. It still, however, remains a mystery how they managed to lose home and away to Huddersfield.

Highest rated player - Willy Boly (7.12)

Willy Boly and Matt Doherty finished the campaign with the same rating but the former edges his team-mate on a superior number of minutes played. The 28-year-old enjoyed a successful first season in the Premier League and only missed two matches for Nuno's side.

Wolves conceded fewer league goals than both Arsenal and Manchester United this season and Boly played an integral part at the back. The Frenchman made 2.4 tackles, 2.1 interceptions, 4.8 clearances and won 3.9 aerial duels per 90 over the course of the season. Not only was Boly solid at the back, but he even proved a threat in the opposition's box with four goals.

Biggest Disappointment - Adama Traore

Wolves spent £18m to sign Adama Traore from Middlesbrough last summer, which was a club record fee at the time, but things haven’t gone to plan and now there are suggestions they could offload the powerful winger after just one season.

Having spent two seasons in the Premier League from 2015 to 2017 with Aston Villa and then Middlesbrough, Wolves were aware of Traore's shortcomings but his displays in the Championship last season suggested he had added to his game.

Everyone knew that Traore was a powerful dribbler but a lack of end product was always his criticism. A return of 10 assists in the Championship suggested he had turned a corner but he scored just one goal and provided only one assist in 29 league appearances for Wolves this season.

Furthermore, only one player made more substitute appearances than Traore in the Premier League this season (21), which is not something you would expect of one of your most expensive ever buys.

Surprise Package - Raul Jimenez

After gaining promotion to the Premier League last season, Wolves opted to mainly sign players from abroad, which is always a risky approach, as Fulham demonstrated. Goals can often be hard to come by for newly promoted teams and are the difference between those that beat the drop and those that don’t.

In order to ease the burden on last season’s top scorer, Diogo Jota, Nuno turned to Benfica striker Raul Jimenez. It was a signing that raised eye brows at the time, given he barely made any impression in Portugal and at previous club Atletico Madrid. However, he finished his first Premier League campaign with 13 league goals for Wolves, matching his tally across both of his league campaigns for Benfica combined.

He has also struck up a formidable understanding with Jota and Wolves have flourished since Nuno unlocked his side’s potential in a 3-5-2 formation. In fact, only Ryan Fraser (seven goals) and Salmon Rondon to Ayoze Perez (six goals) yielded more goals than Jota to Jimenez (five goals) in the Premier League this season. Wolves have since made Jimenez’s loan stint permanent for a club record £30m fee and it’s hard to make a case against that decision.

Where to improve: Squad depth

Wolves head coach Nuno will likely trim some fringe players over the summer, with the likes of Adama Traore, Helder Costa and Ivan Cavaleiro contributing little this season, and no doubt strengthen their starting XI with more audacious signings given their links with super agent Jorge Mendes.

That will be key to cementing their position as the best of the rest in the Premier League next season. Nuno tended to field the same starting XI every week, which suggests he does not completely trust his fringe players. While clearly not a bad thing given where they finished in the table, it's hard to sustain that sort of form without utilising your squad every season. Wolves also benefitted from the fact they didn't sustain one serious long-term injury all season, which is incredibily rare. 

Nuno, for example, named an unchanged starting XI in each of Wolves' first eight league matches - a Premier League record. It's therefore unsurprising to learn Wolves handed starts to just 17 players in the Premier League this season, fewer than any other team in the division. After a successful season, it can be so easy for teams to make dozens of signings in the next transfer window only for that approach to backfire. Wolves should aim to strengthen smartly this summer, with only a couple of additions.

League position: 7th

Grade: A