Karl Henry defends humbled Wolves

Captain Karl Henry today admitted Wolves' humbling at Arsenal was 'demoralising' but insisted their favourable run-in left them well placed for survival.

Midfielder Henry heads into Sunday's Black Country derby against Albion relieved to be finished with the so-called 'big four' for the season after Saturday's 2-0 defeat at the Emirates.

That left Wolves bottom and three points from Premier League safety but with eight of the final 12 games against teams in the bottom half of the table starting with Sunday's Hawthorns noon showdown Wolves' destiny is in their own hands.

"It was demoralising at times Arsenal pop the ball about so quickly, they set each other up from their little triangles and you get to the end of the game trying to close people down and you can't even get close enough to make physical contact," said Henry.

"We left the Emirates a little demoralised but we can't dwell on it because it's going to be completely different from here on in."

Henry believes Wolves can't get too despondent with everything to play for.

"The so-called top four are out of the way, so it's now down to us to show our resolve, character and bottle to get the job done," he said.

"People say we do better against the bigger teams, but would they rather us be playing Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool in our last four games of the season?

"I'm sure they'd rather us be playing the teams we've got, so it's down to us.

We're still in the mix and we're very confident we're going to get out of the relegation zone."

And boss Mick McCarthy agrees that Wolves won't dwell on their Emirates 'slapping'.

"Sometimes you just get turned over by a better team and we were against a very good side," he said,

By TIM NASH