Wolves have exceeded Premier League expectations, says Carl Ikeme

Wolverhampton Wanderers have exceeded a lot of expectations with their 'brilliant' run in the Premier League, according to ex-goalkeeper Carl Ikeme.

After a seven-year absence, the Wolves returned to the English top-flight this season as 2017-18 Championship winners.

They have made a statement with stunning results against the top six clubs in the league, most recently is their 3-1 comeback win over Tottenham Hotspur and 2-1 stunning of Chelsea in December.

Prior to last month's victories, the Molinuex outfit held Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal to 1-1 draws in their league meetings with impressive displays that put them in the top half of the table.

Wolverhampton are placed ninth in the Premier League standings, levelled on points with eighth-placed Watford, and Ikeme - who called time on his career after battling cancer - has reserved praise for the team's improvement.

“It’s been brilliant. We’ve exceeded a lot of expectations. There’s a lot of good players but they’ve not necessarily played Premier League football, but the way Nuno has them set up is brilliant," Ikeme told Wolves website.

“You can see they’re all working for each other, improving and learning, there are going to be moments in a season where things don’t go for them, but they always seem to pick themselves back up and make big performances like they did at Tottenham.

“Everyone is proud of what they’re doing at the minute and hopefully, they can keep improving.”

On Monday, Wolves stunned Liverpool and dumped them out of the FA Cup with a 2-1 win, thanks to Raul Jimenez and Reben Neves' goals.

And the ex-Nigeria international has hailed his former club for the deserved win that moved them to the fourth round of the competition.

“It was a really good game, I thought Wolves thoroughly deserved the result," he added.

"Hopefully we can go on a cup run again, we had one in recent years and hopefully we can take it a bit further.

“I don’t want to look too far ahead but a trip to Wembley would be nice, we’re looking forward to the next round and hopefully we’ll get through.”

Ikeme joined Robbie Keane on BBC to conduct the draws for the next stage of FA Cup with Espirito Santo's men paired against the winner between Stoke City and Shrewsbury.

And the 32-year-old has predicted a 'tough' outing against either of the teams but hopes the team advance to the fifth round.

“It’s going to be tough. Stoke haven’t got off to the start they’d have liked in the Championship," he added.

“Shrewsbury would be a good tie, a bit of a local derby, and it would generate a good atmosphere because that’s what you remember about the FA Cup, being at the smaller grounds.

“It doesn’t matter who we play, as long as we go through,” he added.

Next up for Wolverhampton Wanderers is a league visit to the Etihad Stadium on Monday and they will hope to stun Pep Guardiola's Manchester City after settling for 1-1 draw earlier in the season.