Wolves hit by injury crisis

Mick McCarthy described Wolves' treatment room as "emergency ward 10" ahead of tonight's trip to Wigan.

Striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake is sidelined for a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury picked up in Saturday's opening-day defeat to West Ham, while right-back Kevin Foley is also ruled out for a similar spell with a medial ligament problem.

Kevin Doyle (groin) and centre-back Christophe Berra (hamstring) are still not 100 per cent and will also miss out but are expected to be okay for Saturday's game at Manchester City.

Full-back Stephen Ward and midfielders Greg Halford and Matt Jarvis also picked up knocks at the weekend but are expected to feature, while striker Chris Iwelumo (foot) and winger Michael Kightly (hip and foot) remain out.

McCarthy can expect the doom and gloom merchants to be circling ahead should Wolves come away from Wigan empty handed on the back of Saturday's 2-0 opening-day defeat to West Ham, despite their positive display at Molineux.

A trip to Manchester City awaits on Saturday and although the Wolves boss would obviously love to get off the mark sooner rather than later, he insists it is what his side have collected after 38 games that will matter most.

"The earlier you get something on the board the better, that's for sure, and I'd really like that today," he said.

"I'm not going to start saying it's vital because there's another 37 games to play and it will be how many points you end up with.

"But of course the earlier you get some it gives you the confidence to get some more."

Meanwhile he is fully aware Wigan's impressive victory at Aston Villa on Saturday could work two ways at the DW Stadium tonight.

But he does not expect to find Roberto Martinez's side resting on their laurels.

The Latics caused one of the shocks of the opening weekend as they claimed a 2-0 triumph.