Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Rob Edwards has defended his decision to leave Super Eagles striker Tolu Arokodare out of the starting XI for Saturday’s Premier League clash against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
Arokodare, who missed Nigeria’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations squad, had started five consecutive Premier League matches for Wolves prior to the trip to Manchester. Against City, the former Belgian Pro League top scorer came off the bench in the 71st minute, replacing Hee-chan Hwang, with the hosts already 2–0 up thanks to goals from Afcon returnee Omar Marmoush and new signing Antoine Semenyo.
Edwards explained the tactical reasoning behind the decision, saying Wolves wanted greater control of possession and a different attacking approach to exploit spaces behind the opposition.
“I hope it wasn’t perceived as a negative change bringing Tolu out of the team,” Edwards told the club’s official website. “The rationale was we wanted to take the ball more and be able to get behind him in a different type of way. But then I thought Jørgen made a good impact, and I thought Tolu did as well when we introduced him.”
Since joining Wolves on deadline day in the summer, Arokodare has scored four goals and provided one assist in 22 appearances across all competitions.
