Wolverhampton Wanderers

Image source, Opta

Birmingham City welcome Wolves for the first West Midlands derby between the two sides for eight years on Sunday (12:30 BST kick-off).

Blues are unbeaten in their opening four Championship games, albeit just one of those was a victory, while they have drawn the other three.

Wolves suffered their first defeat of the season on Tuesday night, going down 4-2 at West Ham but Cesar Peixoto's side remain near the top of the table in fourth position at this early stage of the campaign before the weekend's action begins.

• This will be the first season in which Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers will face in the league since 2017-18, when Wolves completed a Championship double over their rivals.

• Wolves are looking to win three successive league games against Birmingham City for the first time since December 1999. They have also won their past three league visits to St Andrew's.

• Birmingham are unbeaten in nine league games (W4 D5), their longest run in the Championship since February 2020 (10).

• Wolves have won just one of their previous 23 away league outings (D6 L16), losing 4-2 at West Ham last time out.

• Wolves' Jose Sa is without a clean sheet in any of his past nine league starts – he is one of two goalkeepers to concede over two goals more than expected according to Opta's expected goals on target model (2.1) in the Championship this season alongside Burnley's Max Weiss (3.4).

BBC Radio WM's Mike Taylor is joined by former Wolves striker David Kelly to analyse the club's business in the summer transfer window.

They discuss the large size of the squad and whether there is enough Championship experience for Wolves to win promotion back to the Premier League this season.

"This might be a promotion squad - the only thing that we can say for the moment, is it is not what we were anticipating," said Taylor.

"That doesn't mean it will necessarily be bad. We'll know that in a few weeks, but it is not what we were expecting. It just isn't."

Listen below or on BBC Sounds here - and don't forget to subscribe to get each episode into your My Sounds feed.

And remember, this is your Wolves page so bookmark it, or if you're on the BBC Sport app or signed in on a browser, hit 'Follow' to add it to your MySport and get more news, analysis, stats and fan views - and also select the bell icon in the app to sign up for club notifications.

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We asked for your thoughts after Tuesday's Championship match between West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Here are some of your comments:

West Ham fans

Woody: The game was a lottery as both defences were poor, but we managed to score more. We need to massively improve in defence if we're going to get promoted.

Dave: At last a better team effort, moving the ball quicker, but the new players we need didn't arrive.

At times the back four were wanting and the real big problem is that we don't have enough cover - what happened to finding full-back cover?

All we can do now is hope this team can continue with winning, but I am really concerned.

Sue: Much-improved display. The players need to gel and then will be a good competitive team. Still starting slow. That needs addressing.

Image source, Getty Images

Wolves fans

Tristan: Didn't offer much at the back and were not clinical going forward at all. Played our hardest game of the season at a good time, and didn't make the most of it.

Steve: Overall I don't think we were that bad, certainly not 4-2 bad. We lost to yet another worldie, a daft, unnecessary penalty and a deflection, plus we hit the bar twice. It's a long season and it's going to be a rollercoaster - buckle up and stay positive.

Peter: Wolves will not be in the promotion stakes unless they tighten up their defence, which was cruelly exposed by the Hammers after looking suspect in the opening games. The retention of a focused Krejci and his return to the starting line-up could certainly help in that respect.

Image source, Getty Images

Wolves manager Cesar Peixoto admits he was frustrated by his side's inability to convert chances in their 4-2 defeat at West Ham.

The visitors fell to a first defeat of the season despite a strike from Marshall Munetsi and an own goal by Konstantinos Mavropanos.

Peixoto believed Wolves deserved more on the balance of play.

"It was not the result we wanted," he told BBC Radio WM.

"It was unfair because we created a lot of chances and West Ham scored, we didn't.

"We stayed competitive until the end. I liked the performance, we created a lot of chances and played like we wanted even at 4-1. They scored and we didn't."

Peixoto says his players should have broken the game up more to contain the Hammers.

"We needed to make more fouls to stop the [flow of the] game. We made less than i wanted. We tried to manage the ball more and we hit the bar twice.

"We managed the game better than West Ham but didn't score."

Wolves remain third in the Championship.

Image source, Getty Images

Transfer deadline day is upon us and today is the final chance for your EFL club to finalise any business until January.

The transfer window closes at 23:00 BST, so we might have some late night scrambles to get deals over the line.

There has already been plenty of movement this summer and whether it's a busy or quiet day for your club, you will be able to keep across it all on BBC Sport.

Follow our EFL deadline day live text coverage throughout the day here

Get alerts and keep up to date with all the latest news, insight and fan views for your club

Dazzling Dave
Fan writer

Image source, Shutterstock

Rodrigo Gomes' goals against Stoke highlighted the growing range of attacking options available to César Peixoto.

He was the obvious hero of Wolves' 4-1 win over Stoke, scoring twice in three minutes to turn an early setback into a platform for victory.

Raúl Jiménez's penalty added a third before Jordan James completed the scoring on his home debut.

Fer López was also involved in the moves that led to the goals, underlining the broader point for Peixoto that Wolves are beginning to find goals and decisive moments from several players, rather than relying on one experienced striker.

Jiménez's leadership, movement and penalty-taking can help Wolves in their push for promotion. However, their hopes of returning to the Premier League will depend on the players around him chipping in.

Across their opening three Championship games, Wolves have scored nine goals. Six players have contributed: Gomes and Fer López have two each, Jiménez has two, both penalties, while James, Adam Armstrong and Marshall Munetsi have one apiece.

That spread matters. Wolves cannot build a promotion campaign around Jiménez alone, even if his experience is a valuable asset. The Championship is too demanding, and too long, for one forward to carry the attack every week.

The early signs are encouraging. Wolves have taken seven points from three matches and remain unbeaten. Against Stoke, they responded to Sam Gallagher's second-minute opener by scoring twice before half-time.

They also created enough to deserve the result. Wolves finished with 18 shots, eight on target and 53% possession. Their expected-goals total was 2.64, compared with Stoke's 0.88.

The figures show that Wolves are already finding goals from across the team, but they also explain why Peixoto remains keen to strengthen before the transfer window closes.

Gomes and James made important contributions against Stoke, yet another attacking option would give Wolves greater depth and more flexibility during the promotion race.

There are still reasons for caution. Wolves conceded early again, and the scoreline should not hide the periods when Stoke found space. Peixoto must improve their control and make sure this attacking variety survives injuries, tiredness and tougher opponents.

Jiménez may remain central to Wolves' promotion hopes, but he is no longer carrying the full attacking responsibility. Gomes, López, James, Armstrong and Mane have all shown they can contribute, giving Peixoto a wider range of options.

Even so, the manager still wants to strengthen before the transfer window closes, which could add further depth to Wolves' promotion push.

The Stoke win was encouraging not because one experienced player delivered, but because several players did.

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We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Championship match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Stoke City.

Here are some of your comments:

Wolves fans

Peter: While the win was comfortable enough against poor opposition, Wolves' defensive inadequacies would have been punished by a better side and should be a concern for new boss Cesar.

Sorba Thomas fired in a string of dangerous crosses from the left but Wolves failed to respond tactically to the threat by closing him down. A good start to the season from Wolves but sterner tests are on the way.

Mike: Another comfortable victory after the opening shock. Wolves had far too much in midfield and going forward for Stoke. If the defence can do their job and keep the opposition quiet, Wolves should have far too much for most teams in this league.

Rob: Finally, a game when they did themselves justice. Djiga, Lopez and Munetsi were better than I have ever seen them and a return to form for Gomes with his fine poaching was very welcome. Some glimmers of a return to form for Mane similarly, and it's needed for him as Chirewa and James are showing some great promise in their brief appearances.

Image source, Shutterstock

Stoke City fans

Richard: I'm getting tired of hearing how good they were in training - but come match day we get school boy errors at the back and they're plainly not fit!

Rob: Robins has to go I'm afraid. Nothing has changed since the disastrous end to last season, and the stats don't lie. The run of successive defeats is utterly embarrassing, and the excuses are becoming increasingly pathetic. This club urgently needs yet another change before it's too late.

Anthony: A poor side who struggle to play attacking football. The manager makes some strange choices and it will be his downfall and not before time. And Walters too. No idea how to run a football team.

Nick Mashiter
Football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

West Ham's move for Wolves' Ladislav Krejcí is likely to fail.

The Hammers wanted to bring the defender - who can also play in midfield - to the London Stadium but it is understood Krejci does not want to play in the second tier.

Wolves would also not entertain selling him to a direct Championship rival.

Leeds were also interested this summer but have signed defenders Nico Elvedi and Tarik Muharemovic instead.

Krejci, 27, joined Wolves last summer, initially on loan from Girona before the move was made permanent, and made 32 appearances in all competitions, scoring twice, as they were relegated from the Premier League.

He made a late substitute appearance in the Carabao Cup win over Port Vale earlier in the month but is yet to feature in the league for boss Cesar Peixoto this season.

Wolves would like the Czechia international to stay beyond Tuesday's transfer deadline.

Image source, Shutterstock

Sasa Kalajdzic has left Wolverhampton Wanderers for Austrian club LASK.

The 6ft 7in striker joined Wolves for a reported £15m fee in 2022 but suffered a long-term knee injury on his competitive debut, against Southampton.

He scored his first goal for the club in a 1-0 away win at Everton in August 2023 but was unable to stay fit for the majority of his time at Molineux.

He spent last season on loan at LASK and re-joins the club, which will be playing Champions League football this season following their 5-1 victory in the final qualification round against Celtic on Tuesday.