City chief one of the best according to Wolves boss Lage

The Wolves boss will be sharing a touchline with the City head coach at Carrow Road tomorrow and is expecting a tough encounter against the resurgent Canaries.

Back to back victories for City against Brentford and Southampton have boosted the mood around Colney, with Smith left praising a vastly improved second half last weekend.

Lage's side have been in a positive run of form themselves, winning five of their last seven matches in the Premier League.

That has pushed Wolves up to sixth in the table. Lage's possession-based style has seen them dominate more matches than was the case under Nuno Espirito Santo.

Lage regards Smith as one of the best coaches in the country and praised City's new boss ahead of this weekend's meeting at Carrow Road.

"He's one of the best managers in the UK," Lage said at his pre-match press conference.

"I followed him since Brentford, the work he did at Aston Villa, and he stayed just one or two weeks out – when he had a chance, he returned.

"I think it’s going to be a good game, Norwich will try to put his own ideas, and he’s like me, he likes his team to have the ball, so it’s going to be a massive challenge for us to play against him.”

Wolves will be without a number of key players including Willy Boly, who misses this weekend's trip to Norfolk with a thigh strain.

Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Bruno Lage after the Premier League match at Elland Road, Leeds. Picture date: Saturday October 23, 2021. (Image: PA Wire/PA Images).

Lage is expecting the next portion of games to become more difficult for his side as they hope to contend with injuries.

"The most important thing for our fans to understand is the challenge for the team, the squad and for me in the next five weeks.

"That's why I've been saying I've wanted points, points, points.

"The real challenge starts now. We're going to play eight games in five weeks and we have 16 players plus goalkeepers."

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