Friday 9 August 2019 18:35, UK
Nuno Espirito Santo believes Wolves' Europa League campaign could help not hinder his side's Premier League aspirations this season.
Wolves' seventh-placed finish last term was enough to see the club gain a place in the Europa League qualifying rounds, playing in Europe for the first time since 1980.
It meant an early start to pre-season, with Wolves' 4-0 victory over Armenia's Pyunik on Thursday moving them one step closer to a play-off place for the ultimate prize of a place in the Europa League group stages.
While many teams struggle to juggle a busy fixture list which sees Europa League games on Thursdays and Premier League matches on Sundays, Nuno is not only relaxed about the situation but believes his side could benefit from playing competitively over the summer.
Nuno, whose side face Leicester in the Premier League on Sunday, said: "It's been different, and we've prepared a different way.
"But we've taken advantage of the competition to prepare ourselves for what is to come on Sunday.
"Our priorities are clear - we want to be ready for every game that is in front of us.
"So it has been different but thank God I have all the players available, and are ready to go"
Wolves faced a gruelling 4,600-mile round trip to play Pyunik in Yerevan on Thursday, and although the squad are tired, Nuno insists he will never use it as an excuse for failure this season.
"We're not complaining and I never will because the best thing to do is to just face it, forget what has gone before and don't think about what can happen," Nuno added.
"You have to prepare yourself on a daily basis to compete, that's the best thing you can do and then see what the results bring.
"We've had a good pre-season, perhaps a different approach with a lot of travelling.
"But the main thing is the players believed, respected themselves and worked so hard and I'm delighted as a coach to have a group of players like this."
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