Juan Foyth ready for Wolves reunion

Less than two months since Juan Foyth made his Premier League debut against Wolves, the young centre-back is ready to meet the men in old gold once more – and this time he knows a bit about what to expect.

Following an excellent display in our 3-1 win at West Ham in the Carabao Cup three days earlier, the 20-year-old Argentine was thrown straight in for his top-flight bow at Molineux on 3 November.

It was an ‘experience’ in every sense of the word.

Calm on the ball under pressure and reading the game well, Juan saw us surge into a 3-0 lead before being the unfortunate man on the wrong end of two penalty decisions as Wanderers came back to leave us clinging on for a 3-2 victory.

“It was my Premier League debut and it was nice because we won, but it wasn’t my best game,” admitted the former Estudiantes youngster. “I think I’ve learned from that and it will be nice to meet the same opponents again to try to show that.”

As Juan said, victory was what mattered most and Mauricio Pochettino was pleased with what he saw from the lad plucked from his homeland in the summer of 2017. Juan ended up making it five Premier League starts in a row – we won four of those – before a hamstring problem ruled him out for a couple of weeks in mid-December.

Back in action in our 5-0 Boxing Day win over AFC Bournemouth, where he played his part in a clean sheet, Juan explained how he’s been developing with every passing match ahead of the return fixture against Wolves at Wembley on Saturday (3pm).

“It’s not just since I’ve been playing in the Premier League – I’ve learned a lot since I arrived here a year-and-a-half ago,” he said. “I learned a lot at Estudiantes as well, but football is about continuing to improve so I try to learn from every game and from every training session.

“I’m still learning all the time but it’s different because now, after a few games in the league, you start to understand how the teams play. In the first game, maybe you’re a bit nervous, you don’t know how everyone is going to play but now you know the players and you have a small amount of experience of the demands (of the game).

“I agree that the more you play or train, the more you improve. Of course, you always have to be 100 per cent focused, but it’s better to know how to play against teams. I cannot know everything at this moment, of course, and I still have to learn, but I feel good and I will continue to try my best.”

With the fixtures coming thick and fast every three days, there’s been little time to reflect on our high-scoring wins over the last week. The Boxing Day bonanza came hot on the heels of a 6-2 win at Everton, but Juan is only thinking ahead as we prepare for another tricky test against Wolves this weekend.

“The performance was very good against Bournemouth – we had control of the game and our forward players were unbelievable,” he said. “When they have the chance, they score and that’s very good for the team so I hope this will continue on Saturday and into 2019.”