Wolves vs Chelsea FC preview - McCarthy: Chelsea will fancy Molineux trip

Posted Wednesday, January 05, 2011 by PA

Wolves manager Mick McCarthy believes out-of-form Chelsea will be backing themselves to beat his team on Wednesday - but he insists another shock could be on the cards.

Carlo Ancelotti's team have slumped to fifth place, having picked up only one Premier League win since the middle of November.

However, McCarthy feels they will see a trip to Molineux as a great opportunity to pick up three points.

He said: "I would think that Carlo Ancelotti's looking at this game as one that they should win, if they are in any sort of a crisis to change that and get an away victory."

But McCarthy warned his visitors that they should expect a tough test at Molineux.

"I don't think, in the same breath, they'll be thinking it will be easy," McCarthy said.

"I doubt anybody is coming here thinking this is going to be a breeze because we're bottom of the league.

"Nobody's had it that way, and Chelsea won't have it that way."

Wolves lost 2-0 to an in-form Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in October but the hosts were indebted to a masterful display from goalkeeper Petr Cech.

That victory moved the champions five points clear at the top of the Premier League, a lofty position that has since been squandered by a sequence of poor results.

It is such poor form, together with home advantage, which McCarthy believes gives his team a greater chance of success this time around.

"It's better than it was earlier on in the season, when they were slapping everybody," McCarthy said.

"But I know what people will think - everybody's expecting Chelsea to get better, saying `They can't keep doing that, they can't keep getting beaten and they can't keep playing as badly as that'.

"So I think everybody will see this as the game that's going to turn it around for them. I don't particularly see it that way, it might be that for us it's four wins out of seven rather than three out of six."

The return of striker Kevin Doyle from injury will also come as a boost to the Black Country outfit.

Last season's top scorer has recovered from a thigh injury and is in the squad, although McCarthy would not say whether he will start the match or feature on the bench.

Karl Henry has begun training after recovering from a knee injury, and while the Chelsea match has come too soon for him, he is likely to be available for the team's FA Cup game at Doncaster at the weekend.

Carlo Ancelotti's injury problems are easing with his squad reporting no new injuries after the draw against Aston Villa.

Defender Alex is still recovering from the knee operation he underwent four weeks ago and Yuri Zhirkov is still unfit. He is also still missing long-term injury victim Yossi Benayoun.

Branislav Ivanovic, however, returns from suspension.

Ancelotti maintains that but for bad luck his team could be leading the Premier League.

He said: "We won against Bolton, drew against Everton and in the 86th minute we conceded a penalty.

"We conceded a penalty in the last minute against Tottenham and we conceded a goal in the last minute against Aston Villa. We lost six points in the last minute. With six points we would be at the top of the table.

"It's true we are not playing so well but sometimes when you concede a goal in the last minute we are not so lucky.

"We have to keep going. We are moving from the difficult moment. The performance is starting to be better. Sometimes we are not able to play for 90 minutes as we want but everything quickly will be okay."