Preview: Wolves v Bournemouth

Pablo Sarabia, Craig Dawson and Santiago Bueno are all available after missing the win at Fulham through injury. O’Neil also expects goalkeeper Sam Johnstone to be part of the matchday squad.

Captain Mario Lemina impressed at centre-back alongside Toti Gomes at Fulham, with Dawson and Bueno absent. “I think he can play there. It was a decent discovery for us, with the injury to Yerson Mosquera and some other factors that have led to us being a little bit short in that area. To be as good as he was in a centre-back partnership of just two was very impressive.”

O’Neil has “zero concerns” about in-form forward Matheus Cunha potentially being a target for other clubs in January. Asked if there was a scenario when an answer to an enquiry would be anything but ‘no’, O’Neil replied: “Matheus won’t leave in January, definitely not.”

On Bournemouth: “They’ll be a tough test. They press the most in the league, they’re incredibly direct and play a lot of long balls. They play forward and test your resilience. We’re four unbeaten but desperate to make it five.”

O’Neil spoke about the importance of a strong team environment at the club: “Myself and Matt [Hobbs, sporting director] discuss it a lot and one of the first things I said is that every signing we make needs to fit the culture. I spoke about playing for Wolves when I first arrived – you have to earn the right to wear the shirt. It’s a big club and supporters spend a lot of money, time and energy giving everything to support the club.”

He continued: “To just have people pulling the shirt on because they’re here doesn’t sit right with me. We are trying to make sure that every signing we make has quality, is a really good person, is able to work and be pushed, and can fit into what we’ve already built.”