21 December 2023 , 20:45
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Wolves boss Gary O'Neil has confirmed that Pedro Neto is back training - and could even be on the bench against Chelsea on Christmas Eve.
The Portugal international had a superb start to the season at Molineux providing seven assists in 10 Premier League games before picking up a hamstring injury in their 2-2 draw with Newcastle at the end of October. Neto has now had a full week of training, but his manager is staying cautious about how involved he will be come Sunday.
He said: “Pedro’s back training and has trained the full week with the lads, so we’ll see how he goes during the next two days to how much involvement he can have at the weekend. But training’s going well, he feels good, so let’s see how he is come Sunday. Everyone will be excited to see Pedro back. Everyone will understand that we want Pedro back ready as well, not just because we feel like we need to put him in.
“If you look at the spell since he’s been out, the lads have managed to keep pushing results and performances and if I think of some other teams who have had key players missing, it always has impacts on results.
“ Tottenham without (James) Maddison and (Micky) van de Ven went on a tough run, Manchester City with no (Kevin) De Bruyne or Rodri, Arsenal last year when they lost (William) Saliba, they were probably going to win the league.
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“We’ve kept ploughing along and we’ve not picked up as many results as we would have liked, but we’ve beat Burnley, beat Spurs, drew against Nottingham Forest, been right in the game at Fulham, right in the game at Sheffield United, so the lads deserve a lot of credit for the work they’re putting in.
“It’s not just let’s get Pedro back and everything’s fixed. As good as he is, and as eager everyone will be to get him back, the club keeps pushing forward until he’s completely ready.”
Pedro Neto's return is huge for WolvesThe Wolves boss also revealed that first-choice 'keeper Jose Sa is available again too. Sa missed last Sunday's trip to West Ham with a shoulder issue, a game where Nelson Semedo, Mario Lemina, Matheus Cunha and Craig Dawson all played despite illness. O'Neil updated on their respective recoveries this week.
He added: “Jose’s good. He trained fully the last couple of days, so he’ll be fit and ready for the weekend. There were actually four lads who were ill (at West Ham) and they missed a couple of days after the game.
“Mario and Matheus Cunha didn’t train the first day with the group and Daws’ missed the first couple. Nels (Semedo) was OK because he was a bit further along with his, so he was feeling slightly better and has trained the full week.
“But so far, no-one else seemed to have picked it up so it looks like we’re coming through that now. They’re all back in training fully today, Daws’ first day back training and they all came through fully.”