Mick McCarthy believes George Elokobi will relish the challenge of tackling Theo Walcott should the two lock horns at Arsenal tomorrow.

Click here to see Mick's pre-match press conference video.

The jet-heeled England winger produced an impressive display from the bench to help the Gunners hit back to draw 2-2 with Barcelona on Wednesday, raising suggestions he will feature from the start against Wolves.

That could prove the latest challenge in an upwardly mobile Elokobi career which has seen him not only emerge from non-league to Premier League but also overcome serious injury problems enroute.

"If ever there is a man who would respond to a challenge then George will be that one," said Mick.

"George was playing for Colchester two years ago and has been out for virtually 12 months with a reconstruction of his knee ligaments.

"Perhaps he should not be on the same pitch as Walcott looking at all that, with what has happened to him.

"But he is, and when Theo sees him stood there and tries to run him once and maybe gets a tackle in once - let's judge it after the game.

"Theo came on for 20 minutes against Barcelona when their left-back had been rampaging forward for 70 minutes.

"If someone comes on and does that to my left-back, I might have asked Stephen Ward to get off the bench and stand in front of him and double-up.

"But Walcott was terrific, he is super-quick.

"When George made his debut at Blackpool he didn't immediately look a championship player - that tells you how good he has been for us since.

"He has been fabulous. When he got injured at Ipswich he was getting better and better and looked terrific.

"Now he's had these three games, coming on at Villa at half-time. He made sure he was ready to play through his training and he has been able to come in and play."

The boss has no fresh injury worries ahead of travelling to London this afternoon although Sylvan Ebanks-Blake is a doubt having been suffering from a virus this week.

The game at Arsenal is the first of two successive away trips to London, with Fulham to follow.

Cottagers boss Roy Hodgson has found himself in the spotlight following his team selection for last weekend's league game at Hull after admitting to thinking about last night's Europa Cup Quarter Final with the other Wolves of Wolfsburg.

But the Wolves boss admits he has no truck with Hodgson's selection, believing it's up to each manager to decide what is best for their club.

"Good luck to them, they're in Europe and probably safe with the points they've got," he added.

"And don't forget we've got them to play.

"If they want to play a weakened team against me I will be delighted.

"Eight of my 'reserves' won down at West Ham - I say that tongue in cheek because they are not reserves. They are first team players.

"Good luck to Roy. They've had a brilliant season.

"Fulham are still in the Europa Cup, and I hope he wins it."