Nuno Espirito Santo unhappy with Wolves’ ‘absurd’ December schedule

Boss Nuno Espirito Santo has branded Wolves’ December schedule “absurd” as he hit out at the decision makers.

The manager is unhappy with the Football Association and Premier League.

Wolves play eight games this month, including their final Europa League Group K match against Besiktas next week.

They host West Ham on Wednesday and also face Manchester City and Liverpool in less than 48 hours after Christmas.

Nuno said: “It’s crazy, this schedule doesn’t make sense. In our case we are the team who has more competitions already and we are going to play with 45 hours between games, it’s absurd.

“It’s one of the issues every time we have a meeting with the FA, we try to make them understand what it means to the players.

“It’s not human, the amount of games we have, if we increase that with international players it becomes really tough. We expect the FA (and Premier League) to attend to in the future and try to find a solution.

“I don’t see it (any understanding from the bodies), we are a team who have had a lot of competitions and the gap between games is not being respectful.

“If someone can come and say ‘look, this is the reason’, I will try to understand but at the moment it doesn’t make sense.”

Wolves are sixth in the top flight after Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Sheffield United.

Nuno was linked with the Arsenal job last week, with Unai Emery sacked on Friday.

The Gunners’ interest has reportedly cooled but Nuno remained calm over his own future at Molineux, where he has a contract until 2021.

“I still have a contract, for me it’s more important that I focus on what I have to do today,” he said.

“I’m focused on tomorrow’s game, it’s the most important moment. West Ham is our present.

“We are day-by-day, me, I live hour-by-hour. I know what I have to do next and I still have a lot of work to do.”

Ryan Bennett (groin) remains a doubt and Morgan Gibbs-White (back) is out but Romain Saiss is back from suspension.