Wolves are on a mission for Premier League survival. Matheus Cunha is their commander-in-chief; right here’s why his targets, creativity and all-round play make him indispensable of their bid to keep away from relegation.
Is there one other Premier League participant who’s extra vital to his staff than Matheus Cunha is to Wolves proper now?
The Brazilian was instrumental in serving to his facet earn their first win of the season on Matchday 11, grabbing a purpose and an help as Wolves beat Southampton 2-0 at Molineux. It was a win that dragged Gary O’Neil’s facet off the underside of the Premier League desk.
As normal, it appeared like one man was on the coronary heart of all the pieces good Wolves did.
Following a surging run into Southampton’s half, Cunha supplied the help for Pablo Sarabia’s early opener with a move that was as delicate because it was incisive. He then sealed the win within the second with an excellent strike from distance.
It took his complete purpose involvement tally to seven for the season (5 targets, two assists) within the Premier League, and he’s immediately contributed to 4 targets in his final three video games. Wolves have secured factors in all three of them (W1 D2).
His show towards Saints marked the fruits of an ascent that’s seen him turn out to be one of many most-rounded forwards within the Premier League over the previous 12 months.
The 25-year-old has had a hand in 23 targets throughout his final 28 Premier League begins (15 targets, 8 assists) in a run that began with Wolves’ dramatic 2-1 victory over Tottenham in November final 12 months.
Throughout that interval, solely six gamers have extra purpose involvements within the Premier League. Not solely have all of them performed extra minutes than Cunha, however every of them performs for groups who completed within the high six final season.
Let’s not overlook we’re speaking about somebody who final season performed for a staff that completed 14th and scored simply 47 targets collectively, and in 2024-25 have solely simply obtained their first win after 11 video games.
This isn’t precisely ground-breaking evaluation, however when watching Wolves play it actually does really feel like all the pieces funnels by their talisman. The numbers actually assist that concept.
Cunha leads the way in which at Wolves for purpose involvements (7), and total he’s contributed to 43.8% of all of their targets. The one gamers who can higher that proportion are both central strikers, gamers who play for one of many conventional ‘huge six’ groups, or Dwight McNeil (!).
However we will transcend targets and assists to quantify Cunha’s significance to Wolves through the use of our sequence knowledge. That may inform us how a lot he’s concerned in strikes that don’t essentially finish with a purpose, however no less than end in a shot.
This season he’s been concerned in 50 open-play attacking sequences which have led to a shot for Wolves. That’s 10 greater than anybody else within the staff.
Translate that to a per-90 foundation (minimal 270 minutes performed) and Cunha is the one Wolves participant concerned in over 4 shot-ending strikes on common each 90 minutes.
After all, what’s instantly noticeable from his involvements in Wolves’ photographs within the graphic above is what number of makes an attempt he takes relative to his teammates.
Cunha’s shot quantity is maybe stunning for somebody who’s primarily operated out large or in behind the striker.
For a begin, Wolves don’t take plenty of photographs within the first place; at 10.5 per recreation, they rank fourth lowest within the league this season.
Jørgen Strand Larsen – their quantity 9 and theoretically the participant imagined to be taking plenty of these photographs – is just averaging 1.5 a recreation. Cunha averages practically double that in open play alone (2.9).
It doesn’t sound like a staggeringly giant quantity, however Cunha’s complete photographs per 90 (together with these not in open play) of three.2 is larger than the likes of Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak (each 3.1), Danny Welbeck (3.0) and Ollie Watkins (2.8). Cunha’s 31 photographs is greater than twice as many as every other Wolves participant.
Given his facet don’t generate many possibilities, Cunha typically has to take issues into his personal fingers. And that’s the place his capacity to hold the ball at tempo is extraordinarily fruitful.
In video games towards Brighton and Newcastle, Cunha used his acceleration and energy to vogue an opportunity all on his personal. In each examples he picks the ball up, races into the area behind a full-back and will get a shot away.
His capacity to surge into area opens up gaps for teammates, too.
In opposition to Southampton, he was fast to grab on a stray header from Kyle Walker-Peters, earlier than bursting into area…
… and operating on the coronary heart of the Saints backline, then being able to slide in Sarabia whereas sprinting. The Spaniard utilized the end.
With 44.4% possession and simply 307 accomplished passes per recreation (each sixth lowest within the division), Wolves should endure plenty of strain in video games. They typically depend on transitional moments to generate possibilities.
Cunha is a superb outlet for that: 19 of his 31 photographs have are available transition. Solely Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo has the next tally.
It’s not simply in assault the place Cunha’s capacity to hold the ball forwards is beneficial, it’s additionally essential in driving Wolves up the pitch. He leads your entire staff for complete carries (137), and total carry distance (1,875m).
These aren’t simply brief carries, both. These are lung-busting carries upfield over lengthy distances. Solely eight gamers within the Premier League journey additional with the ball on common per carry than Cunha (13.7m).
His carries are direct, too, with Cunha dragging his facet up the pitch by virtually 9 metres per carry (8.9m). Simply 10 gamers within the division carry the ball extra immediately on common than Cunha.
Cunha’s creativity is maybe missed as properly. He has created 20 possibilities for Wolves this season, virtually double anybody else within the staff. Granted, he does take most set-pieces, however his tally from open play (10) can also be a excessive for Wolves.
As well as, the cumulative xG worth of the photographs Cunha’s created in open play this season places him in some esteemed firm. Solely Cole Palmer (3.5), Salah (3.3) and Alex Iwobi (3.2) have collected extra xG assisted in open play than Cunha (3.1), and there’s a good argument to counsel he ought to have extra than simply two assists.
When O’Neil was requested about Cunha’s significance to his facet after beating Southampton, the Wolves supervisor praised his high scorer’s affect: “He’s enormous for us… he has such capacity.”
O’Neil then went on to counsel that it’s out of possession the place his star man nonetheless has to enhance, saying: “All of the work we do with him actually is round being linked to the staff. We work very laborious with him on how vital it’s to be a trusted staff member after we don’t have the ball.”
Given Wolves usually are not significantly aggressive with their press, O’Neil might be referring to Cunha’s function of their total staff form, and his self-discipline within the first line of defence.
There’s clearly room for enchancment in Cunha’s duelling capacity – he’s certainly one of 5 Wolves gamers to have a duel success price below 50%, and when he pressures an opponent he efficiently wins the ball off them simply 12.3% of the time, a determine that’s significantly under the league common.
It’s maybe a slight concern that somebody who’s beforehand hung out with Atlético Madrid and Diego Simeone, in addition to below Ralf Rangnick and Julian Nagelsmann at RB Leipzig – all of whom put enormous emphasis on gamers’ roles with out the ball – remains to be on the top of feedback about his off-the-ball work.
That’s doubtlessly the one side of Cunha’s recreation that wants refining earlier than he makes the leap to a much bigger membership once more, however that hasn’t stopped curiosity effervescent. Arsenal had been reportedly eager on buying him within the winter switch window of 2022-23 – when Wolves ended up signing him – and along with his kind this season, it appears unlikely that curiosity can have waned.
Wolves’ first precedence is to maintain Cunha for the remainder of the season: he’s important for his or her probabilities of Premier League survival. They’re at the moment predicted to complete seventeenth by the Opta supercomputer and are given a 43.9% probability of relegation.
Cunha should proceed to guide this staff if they’re to recuperate from a really poor begin.
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