Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Rob Edwards has defended his decision to leave Tolu Arokodare out of the starting lineup for Saturday's Premier League clash with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

Wolves benefited from the surprise omission of Arokodare from Nigeria’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations squad, with the Super Eagles striker starting five consecutive Premier League matches before the trip to Manchester.

Against the Citizens, the former Belgian Pro League top scorer came off the bench to replace Hee-chan Hwang in the 71st minute, with the home team 2-0 up courtesy of goals from Afcon returnee Omar Marmoush and new signing Antoine Semenyo.

Edwards explained that the decision to start Tolu on the bench was tactical as Wolves wanted greater control of possession and a different attacking approach by getting in behind the opposition.

"I hope it wasn't perceived as a negative change bringing Tolu out of the team. The rationale was we wanted to take the ball more and be able to get behind him in a different type of way," Edwards told Wolves' official webpage. 

"But then I thought Jorgen made a good impact, and I thought Tolu did as well when we introduced him.”

Since his deadline day move to Wolves in the summer transfer window, Arokodare has tallied four goals and registered an assist in 22 all-competition appearances.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel