- Wolves continued upturn in form with a 4-1 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage
- Mathus Cunha scored twice and Gary O’Neil says he can be among the best
- Will Ruben Amorim be Man United’s saviour? LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Available wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes every Monday and Thursday
Wolves boss Gary O’Neil reckons Matheus Cunha can be as good as the likes of Bernardo Silva and Martin Odegaard after the Brazilian turned on his Samba style to help his side beat Fulham.
The 25-year-old’s brilliant brace was one for the highlights reel. Cunha’s first, which levelled the game after Alex Iwobi’s opener for the hosts, came after a deft touch brought down Mario Lemina’s long pass before he dinked the ball over goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
If that was sublime, Cunha’s second was spectacular. Late in the second half, Cunha met Joao Gomes’ pass with a first time strike into the top corner from the edge of the area, bending the ball out of Leno’s reach and the game out of Fulham’s sight.
Gomes and Goncalo Guedes also netted for O’Neil’s side as they climbed out of the relegation zone with their first away league win in 11 matches.
Cunha, who has now been involved in 26 goals in his past 29 league starts (17 goals, nine assists), said: ‘I’m so happy. We try to have these kinds of shots in training. The gaffer comes to me and says: “Please do this in a game, please help me!”.’
O’Neil was effusive in his praise of the former Atletico Madrid attacker but was more impressed by his work off the ball than his eye-catching goals.
He said: ‘Everyone knows how important he is to us, but also important to recognise the work that he’s put in since he has been here. This isn’t the Matheus Cunha that arrived at Wolves.
‘I love working with him because the penny has definitely dropped that he can be a top player. There were gaps before and he works every single day to be as good as he can be.
‘I love working with him. His talent is incredible, obviously. But if you watch the top players, they’re able to do it week in week out. Watch people like Bernardo Silva, Martin Odegaard. ‘They’re all top with or without the ball and Matheus, the numbers he’s producing at the minute are up there with everybody.’
‘He’s going to stay at Wolves for as long as possible, firstly. But after that, there’s no limit to where he can go.’
