Vitor Pereira delight as ‘confident and happy’ Wolves equal club record with win | OneFootball

Wolves boss Vitor Pereira said “confidence and happiness” was powering his side’s stunning form after seeing them brush aside relegated Leicester to claim a sixth successive Premier League win.

Matheus Cunha opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark when he turned in Rayan Ait-Nouri’s cross for his 15th goal of the campaign.

The Brazilian turned from scorer to creator for Wolves’ next two goals, first delivering a perfect pass to Jorgen Strand Larsen who expertly dispatched past Mads Hermansen.

He then squared to Rodrigo Gomes late on to make it 3-0 as Wolves equalled a club record that has stood since 1970 with their sixth successive top-flight win.

Jamie Vardy, who this week announced his decision to leave Leicester after 13 years in the summer, was denied his 199th goal for the club after he saw his 72nd-minute penalty saved by Jose Sa.

Wolves have picked up 32 points in 18 games since Pereira took over in December and when asked what has changed since his arrival, the Portuguese said: “Confidence. Give confidence to the players. I can speak about tactical but it’s about confidence.

“About creating the right energy between the people and of course the tactical identity. When you come to watch the match you will see a team trying to play, fighting together, tactical organisation.

“We are a team that in this moment is with confidence and happiness, commitment through spirit, I’m very happy.

“Today the game was controlled, I lose energy when I don’t see my team play in a good way but today we showed character, ambition.”

Much has been spoken about whether Cunha will be at Wolves next season amid talk of a possible move to Manchester United.

Pereira said he cannot predict whether “special” Cunha will be at Molineux next season but said the Brazil forward remains committed to helping the team finishing the campaign well.

He added: “High quality. He’s a special player and he’s committed with the team-mates and the club to help us to do the best we can until the end of the season.

“This is a crystal ball looking for the future, I don’t have a crystal ball. I can’t say to you he will leave the club, he is with us, committed with us and he’s happy.”

Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy oversaw yet another miserable afternoon and suffered his 17th league defeat since walking through the door at the King Power Stadium.

He admits it has been a tough season both physically and mentally for him and his side.

He said: “You look for different ways, a couple weeks ago we kept fighting and changed the narrative to the new season which released energy into two good performances. We wanted to build on that.

“It’s been tough, hard both physically, mentally and an incredibly tough season, you can see it with injuries. It’s a big ask for everyone to stay together for the last four games and do the best we can be.

“Disappointed with the performances of course. The Brighton and Liverpool performance, we did everything we could in every sense and today that wasn’t in that line and that was disappointing.