Wolves lose essence while balancing top-flight status for little outlay | Jonathan Liew

Underlying numbers show Gary O’Neil’s side should improve but the board’s strapped cash policy is joyless

What happens when you throw the Premier League’s slowest starters up against the club that has scored in the first minute of their past three games? For Wolves, the first 60 seconds against Brentford on Saturday carry their own curious quantum of danger. Which is not by any stretch to suggest that things get any easier for them after that.

It has become a commonplace to blame Wolves’s start to the season – they are bottom of the table with a single point – on the cruelty of the fixture computer. Their first six games were against Arsenal, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Liverpool, with Manchester City and Brighton lying in wait.