Wolverhampton vs Shrewsbury Predictions

League One’s Shrewsbury came very close to knocking out Wolves at the first time of asking; they went two goals up with less than 20 minutes left to play, though the Premier League side showed their class to pull one back minutes later, before equalising deep into stoppage time. Having clawed their way back into the initial tie, Nuno Espírito Santo’s men will be hoping to avoid doing things the hard way now back in front of their own fans.

Given that they were up against League One opponents, Wolves really ought to have performed better in the first leg, though given the situation that they found themselves in, the Premier League outfit deserve credit for earning themselves a replay.

The score-line (2-2) from the initial fixture does suggest that Wolves were poor, but, even though they were far from their best, they probably didn’t deserve to be two down and still had the better of the encounter, as the fact that they emerged with a +1.13 expected goal difference suggests. Such a figure is far from disgraceful and now back on their own patch, where they’ve done reasonably well in the Premier League this season, Wolves should be capable of doing even better.

Recent home performances have been good as far as Nuno Espírito Santo’s men are concerned. They deservedly emerged victorious from a topsy-turvy fixture against Leicester, while they delivered a commanding performance when demolishing West Ham last time out. In both of those matches, Tuesday’s hosts made light work of creating chances and scoring goals, so they’ll certainly fancy themselves to do well against League One opponents on Tuesday.

Shrewsbury did exceptionally well in the initial game; they worked very hard, took their chances when they arose and battled all the way through. However, their efforts on that occasion don’t exactly suggest that they’ll have what it takes to emerge victorious from this match. The Shrews have found it tough to win on their travels in League One, as they’ve avoided victory in each of their last six travelling matches. Moreover, the fact that they created just 0.93 expected goals and registered just three shots on target at home against Wolves doesn’t exactly bode well ahead of this reverse fixture.

From a betting point of view, this is a tricky fixture, where little appeals in all honesty. Wolves should have more than enough in their locker to see off the Shrews, but the hosts don’t merit support at the current prices. One bet that does make marginal appeal is ‘Wolves to Win & Under 3.5 Goals’. With a league fixture right around the corner, the hosts probably won’t be looking to go overboard, but if they can keep things as tight as they did against West Ham in their last home match and create as much as they did in the first leg, then they ought to record a relatively straight win without overly exerting themselves.