Kenny Jackett will send his players out for Sunday’s big derby with the aim of chalking up a hat trick of home wins.
But he knows it will be a tough test against a Birmingham City side standing three positions and eight points ahead of Wolves, just two points adrift of the play-offs.
Gary Rowett’s first game as Blues boss was a 0-0 draw at Molineux 16 months ago, while the 2-1 defeat Wolves suffered at St Andrew’s last April put a big dent in the team’s play-off hopes.
It is Blues who are closer to the top six in the current campaign, although Wolves produced one of their most clinicail displays of the season in winning 2-0 at St Andrew’s back in October.
“This is a great game for us and a big game,” says Jackett.
“Again it is live on television and it is another opportunity for us.
“We have won the last two games at home and want to continue to do well.
“We will be looking to try and extend that run against a very good and well-organised Birmingham side.
“They have had a very good season and Sunday will be a test for us.
“Like a number of Championship sides they have a lot of threats and are a dangerous team.
“They have their own aspirations towards the top of the league and Gary Rowett is a very good manager with a great track record at both Burton and Birmingham.
“For us, we want to go into our last ten games of the season positively, improving, and working our way up the league to see where it takes us.
“It will be a tough game and we know what local derbies are about and this is with two genuinely big clubs.
“We wan to build up the the atmosphere at Molineux and give the supporters something to shout about.
“Our crowd will go off what they see on the pitch.
“They were delighted to see us beat Bristol City at the end on Tuesday night – that was great backing and something we want to capitalise on and take forward.
“We know we need a very big run because the top six look strong and so do those other teams in and around it.
“We want to stay as far as we can within touching distance, to be competitive, and to improve.”
Ethan Ebanks-Landell has now undergone surgery on his broken metatarsal which will rule him out for the remainder of the season.
On the positive, Jackett is hoping to have Bjorn Sigurdarson and Adam Le Fondre added to the squad which beat Bristol City, and Michal Zyro that little bit more match fit after his lively 45-minute runout.
Sigurdarson missed out on Tuesday after hyper-extending his knee while Le Fondre was with his wife as she gave birth to the couple’s third daughter.
“It will be good to have those two available because our forward options against Bristol City were quite limited,” added Jackett.
“It was good to have Michal back but we do have to be careful with him as he picked up a calf strain pretty quickly – we don’t want that to happen again.”
*Wolves sponsors and local firm Techworx are offering one lucky supporter the opportunity to WIN a signed shirt or ball and to meet two members of the first team squad on the afternoon of Tuesday 15th March 2016.
