Wolves steeled for survival fight

Wolves may be only 13 games into their first season back in the Premier League but that has not prevented Mick McCarthy from warning his players that they are already embroiled in a grim scrap to avoid the drop.

Former Ireland coach McCarthy has hit his players with a fierce reality check following two humbling defeats to Arsenal and Chelsea and warned them to embrace the pressure of a relegation battle.

To mention the dreaded expression ‘six-pointer’ in the vicinity of most managers at such an embryonic stage of the campaign is running the risk of a snappy reaction. But McCarthy is not like most managers.

Indeed, he is positively embracing the hype ahead of their clash with local rivals Birmingham this weekend.

Currently second from bottom of the table, Wolves face fellow strugglers Bolton next weekend and, with trips to Liverpool, Spurs and Manchester United coming up before the end of the year, McCarthy has made no attempt to sugar-coat their current situation.

He said: “There was no point messing about. The players have to embrace it, understand it, recognise it and play with that.

“You can end up almost with a fear of saying it, not wanting to mention the R word.

“I’ve said ‘that’s rubbish’ because that’s what we’re fighting against. If we’re in the bottom two after 13 games, that’s where we are, so let’s understand it, recognise it and deal with it. We need to get points.”

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish, meanwhile, must have initially feared potential problems when Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung rolled up at St. Andrews.

But the arrival of Birmingham’s new owner has propelled the club towards a new era and both results and performances have been vastly improved.

Impressive home wins over Sunderland and Fulham ensure that McLeish’s troops visit Molineux as the form team, with the former Scotland coach celebrating two years in charge this weekend.

“It has been a whirlwind two years but the ultimate aim is to keep this club up,” he said. “We desperately need stability but at the moment I think we?re still much of a muchness. It’s too early to judge.

“It’s the Premier League, we tend to do that in the first five or six games and then you see that other teams can fight back.

“Like two years ago when Bolton and Fulham fought back. There are plenty of points to play for.

“Wolves will be seeing it as a must-win at the weekend. They will come at us, I?m sure, like a runaway train — and we have to be ready.”

Wolves will be without Ronald Zubar after the former Marseille defender, who had been struggling with a thigh strain which ruled him out at Chelsea last weekend, picked up an ankle injury.

Birmingham welcome back club captain Damien Johnson after a hamstring injury.