Moutinho targets European qualification with Wolves

Nuno Espirito Santo has guided Wolves to seventh and Joao Moutinho is confident the team has the staying power to mix it with the best.

Wolves midfielder Joao Moutinho

Joao Moutinho has set his sights on helping Wolves qualify for Europe after a fine start to the Premier League season.

The experienced Portugal international joined from Monaco in July and represented a significant coup for the newly promoted club.

Moutinho revealed he was won over by the ambition at Molineux and he is confident the upward trend will continue under compatriot Nuno Espirito Santo.

"Wolves are an ambitious project and I want this kind of ambition, this kind of project," the midfielder told the club's official website, with Nuno's men having taken 15 points from their first eight matches. 

"The club, the team, the staff wants to go on to the next level and I came to help this situation.

"It is unbelievable what they did and how good they played last year, and I think with the new players it can help the team to achieve more things.

"Most important with our team is that every player gives 100 per cent and after that it is good for us and it is good for our results. We are seventh and we are only three points off Europe, but we know the other teams can catch us.

"We need to continue to do the good work because the most important thing is to think we can stay good, but we need to work more and more to improve, because we know the next game is very difficult."

Wolves hosts Watford on Saturday and the Hornets would leap above them with a win, but Nuno will be riding high after claiming the Premier League Manager of the Month award for September and has the full backing of Moutinho. 

"I knew him, and he is a very good coach. What he did at other clubs he did it very well," added the 32-year-old.

"The coach has a lot of his own characteristics and he puts a lot of himself for the players; what he wants, what he needs to do, and I think on the pitch we do almost 100 per cent what he wants. That is why we have started the season very well.

"His methods are very good. He wants to play, have the ball, but we defend like a team. We can show our individuality, but as a team, and that is the most important thing for us. Play like a team, do everything for each other, on and off the pitch, and after that the results will come."