Wolves goal hero Fer Lopez sets sights on top spot after Black Country derby delight
Wolves star Fer Lopez is eyeing top spot after sending Molineux wild on Sunday.
Black Country derby hero Fer Lopez is determined to fire Wolves to the top of the Championship after the international break.
Victory over fierce rivals Albion on Sunday made it back-to-back 1-0 wins and clean sheets in the league for Wolves.
It means they head into the extended international break three points behind leaders Swansea City with a game in hand - and derby hero Lopez has his sights set on top spot.
The Spaniard said: “If we win the game in hand we’d go top and that was the goal since the beginning. We need to keep going like this.
“We have a strong squad, which is good with the amount of games.
“When I came off Tommy (Doyle) went in, Jordan James came on, Bellegarde came on, top players.
“The squad we have is great and we need to keep playing like this and we’ll do good.”
The derby triumph marked another narrow victory for Wolves - a contrast to the more free-scoring form they enjoyed through August and into early September.
They were denied by several chances before Lopez finally found the breakthrough, but the 22-year-old is hungry for more goals after his latest decisive contribution.
“We’re finding a balance,” Lopez added. “Before we were scoring a lot of goals but also conceding a lot, now we’re a bit more pragmatic and won the last two games 1-0.
“We need to find the balance and stay with the clean sheet, but also try to score more goals.
“Today we had the chance to score more goals and we did very good defensively, so we have to try to find that right balance and we’re growing towards that.
“We’re very happy with how the team is evolving.”
The derby win was Wolves’ only home game this month, with Lopez sending the Molineux faithful into delirium with his second-half strike.
Four of Wolves’ six Championship games after the international break are on home soil, and the 22-year-old is already looking forward to returning to Molineux.
“When I scored I couldn’t hear anything, it was great,” he said.
“We look forward to playing more at home. Since the beginning we’ve only played three.
“If we win the game in hand we go top of the table, so we are in a good spot right now.”