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Conor Coady: Wolves not talking about race for Europe

Conor Coady: Wolves not talking about race for Europe
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Wolves remain in the hunt for a European place following the first half of the season.

Captain Conor Coady has dismissed talk of a European challenge despite Wolves' bid to upset the Premier League order.

The skipper is remaining cautious, with the Molineux side in the hunt for a Europa League spot after an impressive first half of the season.

They go to rock-bottom Fulham on Boxing Day having dropped to 10th after Friday's 2-0 defeat to Liverpool – but they are still just four points off sixth.

One of Chelsea, Tottenham or Manchester City is likely to win the Carabao Cup, with that group also expected to finish in the league's top five places, meaning finishing sixth would net a Europa League qualifying place.

Coady, however, refused to be drawn on Wolves' chances.

"No, because as a club and as a team we don't think like that. We've gone from being in the Championship and people are talking about Europe," said the defender.

"We need to make sure we're level-headed. We want to make sure we look at it game by game.

"It (European talk) just doesn't happen, all the lads will tell you nothing like that has been said in the changing room.

"We haven't looked too much at the league, you can move so much if you win, lose or draw.

"We're the same as the boss, we don't look too much into that. We've started the season alright, we're where we wanted to be, we wanted to keep momentum going from last season.

"Up to now it's been OK but you look at games like Friday, we want to win games. It doesn't matter if it's Liverpool or Fulham."

Wolves won the Sky Bet Championship last season, with Fulham promoted via the play-offs, but the Cottagers have struggled this term.

They are four points from the safety line after just two wins but Coady insisted Wolves cannot be considered favourites.

"From our point of view we don't expect to go there and win. We expect to go and perform and put on a way of playing we want to. Hopefully we can do that to get the win," he added.

Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo faced Fulham manager Claudio Ranieri in the 2016-17 Champions League.

Ranieri beat Nuno's Porto 1-0 while he was Leicester boss before losing 5-0 in Portugal with a weakened side having already qualified for the last 16.

Nuno said: "What I expect is a very well organised team, a very well balanced team. A team who are managed by a manager who was champion of the Premier League. It is going to be very difficult. Claudio is fantastic."

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A general view inside Molineux, the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers, in January 2018
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