Wolverhampton Wanderers' five-match unbeaten run in the Premier League was halted by bottom-of-the-league Sheffield United last time out, Paul Heckingbottom's Blades winning the contest 2-1 to pick up their first three points of the season at the expense of Gary O'Neil's side.
The Wolves manager would have felt annoyed that his team didn't at least come away from the encounter at Bramall Lane with a share of the points, substitute Jean-Ricner Bellegarde scoring with a minute left on the clock before Oliver Norwood's penalty deep into ten additional minutes spoiled the away day for the West Midlands outfit.
Everyone connected to the Old Gold will hope they can immediately bounce back from his disappointing loss versus Tottenham Hotspur at home, a hard ask arguably with Ange Postecoglou's Spurs flying high with eight wins from 11 so far in the top-flight.
O'Neil will be presented with a selection dilemma for this visit of the Lilywhites to Molineux, the 40-year-old's usually dependable star-man Mateus Cunha way off the pace in Sheffield last time out with various other first-teamers also having off days in the Steel City.
Cunha's performance in numbers versus Sheffield United
Wolves' number 12 joined the West Midlanders on a club record £44m deal after starring on loan, relocating permanently to Wolverhampton from Atletico Madrid earlier this year.
He's been played predominantly as a centre forward under O'Neil's tenure to date, although the 24-year-old has been used as a second striker and attacking midfielder for the Old Gold as well sparingly in recent times.
Netting two goals from a centre-forward position this season – his last strike coming away at AFC Bournemouth in a 2-1 win on the South Coast – it was the tactical decision to move him behind sole striker Saša Kalajdžić into a less favoured second striker role versus Heckingbottom's men that ended up working against Wolves.
Losing possession 22 times in total, as per Sofascore, Cunha didn't look switched on to the task at hand whatsoever against the lowly hosts.
It was a poor 90 minutes from the Brazilian attacker, registering only one shot on target in his efforts to trouble Blades goalkeeper Wesley Foderingham – the leaky goalkeeper conceding a dire 30 goals all season.
His starting spot for the home game against Tottenham could be under threat as a result, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde a plausible replacement for the underwhelming Cunha.
Bellegarde scored Wolves' solitary goal at Bramall Lane, despite only playing for 29 minutes.
Rayan Aït-Nouri will also be left wondering whether he did enough last time out to start this time around, following a poor day at the office for the wing-back turned winger.
Aït-Nouri's performance in numbers vs Sheffield United
Aït-Nouri was equally wasteful with the ball at his feet in the narrow loss last weekend, losing possession 13 times, which contributed to Sheffield United gaining an eventual foothold in the contest and grinding out a win.
He also only crossed into the Sheffield United box once all afternoon, with more balls into the area potentially unlocking a resolute backline if tried.
Jayden Bogle running down the flanks for the hosts was far more effective, winning six of his 11 attempted ground duels in the contest per Sofascore to help his team pull off their first victory in the top-flight after ten painful games prior.
Whereas, the 22-year-old winger for Wolves was marshalled out of the game effectively by Blades shirts and could run the risk of losing his spot in O'Neil's lineup for the game against Postecoglou's full-throttle north Londoners.