I’m in the form of my life, insists Matt Doherty

By Robin Edwards

Republic of Ireland international right-back Matt Doherty believes he has never played better ahead of the games with Denmark and Wales.

Whether that will be good enough to get him a start in the games remains to be seen with Ireland boss Martin O’Neill recently stating he doesn’t think Doherty drives forward enough.

Doherty doesn’t think that is a warranted criticism of him — especially after he scored the winning goal for Wolves in last weekend’s 1-0 victory against Crystal Palace.

He said: “If anything the problem has been going forward too much.

“I don’t think it has ever been a problem to be honest.

“And (against Crystal Palace) I guess we got a good end product from it (going forward).

I would say I am in the best form of my life because of the standard we are playing at now.

“I mean I had some good times when I was playing in the Championship but we are in the Premier League now so to continue that form, the way I am now, yes it has filled me with a lot of confidence.

“It feels pretty good to score my first Premier League goal because it is the best league in the world.

“To get the goal and obviously we won 1-0 so we keep the clean sheet, it was a pretty good day against Crystal Palace.”

👈 @mattdoherty20 👉 pic.twitter.com/N9wcMSTccd

— Wolves (@Wolves) October 7, 2018

Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo has yet to make a change to his starting line-up eight games into the Premier League season which is a new record and Doherty added: “It just goes to show we are all playing pretty well.

“I mean if people weren’t pulling their weight then he (Nuno) would probably make changes.

It is a hard team to get into at the moment. It probably just goes to show our fitness levels that no-one has had any little injuries and everyone is in great condition.

“It is tough for the lads (on the sidelines) but when they come on they make a difference like they did last week against Southampton when Adama (Traore) and Cav (Ivan Cavaleiro) came on, so the team spirit is great.”

Meanwhile, Doherty was yeterday named the PFA Player of the Month, beating off competition form a host of the league’s star players to win the award.

Doherty claimed 39% of the fan votes to win the award comfortably ahead of Chelsea talisman Eden Hazard (26%) and Arsenal ace Alexandre Lacazette (18%).

As well as his winner against the Eagles, the 26-year-old also provided two assists during the month, and made an average of 2.1 clearances per game.