Wolves are back in the big time

Crowned this year's Championship champions, Wolves clinched their long-awaited return to the Premier League this season. Dominating the second tier, Nuno Espirito Santos' men topped the Championship table from 18 November 2016, and never looked likepy to let their lead slip - finishing with a record of 30 wins, 9 draws and 7 defeats.

🏆 Most C'ship goals in 17/18:
82⚽: 🐺@Wolves 🐺
79⚽: Fulham
72⚽: Villa
70⚽: Derby, Hull
69⚽: Cardiff#Wolves #Proud2BeWolves pic.twitter.com/unjjekUbqY

— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) 8 de mayo de 2018

With a total of 82 goals scored in 2017/2018, Wolves were the topscoring side in the Championship, Diogo Jota at the heart of their attacking play. Besides being the team's top scorer, the Portuguese forward was the Midlanders link between a silky midfield and free-scoring attack - the former Porto man weighing in with 5 assists, in addition to his 17 second tier goals. 

Finishing with a total of 99 points, it at one point looked as if Wolves could challenge the Championship record points tally of 106, set by Reading in 2005-06. However, tepid results in January and February - where they lost 12 points via 3 draws and 2 defeats - put an end to that possibility.

At the beginning of the season many people doubted that their links with Portuguese agent Jorge Mendes would pay-off - even though Wolves broke their transfer record twice last season to sign forwards Ivan Cavaleiro and Helder Costa (from Monaco and Benfica respectively) and then paid a Championship-record fee, reported to be £15.8m, for Ruben Neves last summer.

Neves needed to prove himself in his first season in English football and he did just that. He, in many ways, symbolised Wolves' silky, controlled football and also scored six goals into the bargain - all of them from outside the penalty area: one of them a stunning 30-yard volley against Derby County,

☄ Most league goals fr. OUTSIDE the box (Top 5 Euro leagues + C'ship: 17/18):
8⚽: Messi
7⚽: Dybala
6⚽: 💥NEVES💥
5⚽: Coutinho, Fekir, Mariano, Milinkovic-Savic, Neymar#Wolves @Wolves pic.twitter.com/DY3UjuSaKP

— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) 12 de abril de 2018

Next season, Wolverhampton will make their first appearance in the Premier League in six years - with many tipping them for a top 10 finish. Game on!