Watch West Ham vs Wolves on Saturday; coverage begins on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event from 5pm
Thursday 18 June 2020 06:17, UK
Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves admits it will be hard to gauge how opposing teams will respond to the Premier League's return after its enforced break.
Nuno Espirito Santo's side are just five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea as they prepare to face West Ham on Saturday - live on Sky Sports.
Teams have had the opportunity to regroup during the break in football since the Premier League was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic in March.
But Neves remains upbeat for the remainder of the campaign for Wolves - with Sheffield United and Chelsea the only sides currently in the top six they still have to play - as long as they can continue with the footballing philosophy that has kept them in contention for a Champions League spot next season.
"It's hard to know what the teams are going to do, but we need to focus on us," Neves told Sky Sports News.
"We have been [back] working for three or four weeks now, we know what we want to do, and we will do the best we can to get three points.
"We will keep the same philosophy and identity and just go game by game. We have West Ham first, then we will see what happens.
"We don't know what West Ham will do but we know what we want for the game."
Wolves can still qualify for next season's Champions League on two fronts - via the Premier League or if they were to win the Europa League final.
They drew 1-1 away to Olympiakos in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie, in the last match they played before the campaign was suspended.
But Portugal international Neves insists they cannot look too far to the future as they try to build on another successful season back in the English top division, while also chasing European glory.
"It's exciting for us to know that but we can't think about that at the moment," he added.
"We just need to think game by game because if we do our job in the Premier League games, we will be closer to getting that [Champions League football].
"We know we can do it but we need to work to get it. The most important thing is to keep going on our philosophy and the way we have been playing since I arrived here at the club."
