Preview: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Lens - prediction, team news, lineups

Wolverhampton Wanderers and Lens continue their preparations for the new season with a pre-season friendly at Walsall's Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium.

Both clubs are bidding to put themselves in the best positions possible to enjoy better Premier League and Ligue 1 campaigns than they experienced during 2024-25.

Match preview

Having retained their Premier League status last season, Wolves have set about looking to move higher up the standings in 2024-25, yet it has been far from a straightforward pre-season thus far.

As well as seeing the likes of Nelson Semedo, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Matheus Cunha all leave Molineux, Vitor Pereira's side are yet to win any of their three friendlies.

On their stay in the Algarve in Portugal, Wolves succumbed to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Santa Clara before drawing 1-1 with Burnley.

A week later, Saturday's game at Championship outfit Stoke City ended in a 1-1 draw, Hwang Hee-chan netting a second-half equaliser having initially missed from the penalty spot.

Pereira will take the positives from avoiding defeat in the last two matches when important players and one of their new signings - Jhon Arias - have not been available, but there will be a desire to ramp things up on Wednesday against their toughest opponents of their pre-season schedule thus far.

Meanwhile, Lens have a new manager at the helm in the form of Pierre Sage, who is back in a dugout having been sacked as Lyon boss in January.

In three friendlies so far, the French outfit are unbeaten, their opening two matches against Boulogne and Standard Liege ending in 2-2 draws.

They were backed up by a 2-1 triumph over Metz at the weekend, the feeling being that they are making progress ahead of further games against Roma and RB Leipzig.

Although key player Neil El Aynaoui has left for Roma, the likes of Red Bull Salzburg defender Samson Baidoo and Metz left-back Matthieu Udol are notable additions to the squad, as well as a number of last season's loan players remaining on a permanent basis.

Wolverhampton Wanderers form (all competitions):

L D D

Lens form (all competitions):

D D W

Team News

While Pereira may decide to introduce Arias for his Wolves debut, he could give the Colombia international more days of rest given his hectic summer.

Goalkeeper Jose Sa will continued to be assessed as he bids to recover from an eye injury, while Hugo Bueno may remain among the replacements having only recently returned to training after representing Spain Under-21s at the European Championship.

Santiago Bueno could feature if he has recovered from the minor issue that kept him sidelined at Stoke, and Pedro Lima could start at right-back or right wing-back with Ki-Jana Hoever having played 81 minutes on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Baidoo and Florian Sotoca are among the players who could be recalled to the Lens XI after beginning the win over Metz on the substitutes' bench.

Rayan Fofana is also pushing for an opportunity having scored in that contest.

Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:

Bentley; Lima, Doherty, Agbadou, Toti; Bellegarde, Andre, J Gomes; Hwang, R.Gomes Strand Larsen

Lens possible starting lineup:

Gurtner; Aguilar, Bermont, Gradit, Guilavogui, Said, Baidoo, Sotoca, Sylla, Thomasson, Udol

We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Lens

This has all the makings of a competitive encounter, particularly when Wolves have already been involved int three tight games during pre-season. While both clubs have the potential to prevail by a one-goal margin, we are predicting a low-scoring draw.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.