Wolves midfield man Darren Potter admits his place is under threat if Mick McCarthy decides to change his system against Southampton tonight.

Potter is one of three central midfielders being made to sweat tonight as Wolves look to take the game to their out-of-form rivals by switching to an attacking 4-4-2 formation.

He joins Karl Henry, Darron Gibson, David Edwards and the returning Seyi Olofinjana.

McCarthy admitted yesterday that whoever has to drop to the bench will have cause to feel hard done by – and Potter is hoping it’s not him.

“My aim now is to try and keep my place,” he said.

“I’m almost certain the gaffer won’t play 4-5-1 at home which he has done away.

“I think it’s suited us to suck teams on to us and then hit them on the counter-attack.

“At home the punters won’t allow us to do that – they want us to go forward with two strikers and I’m sure that will happen.

“Whether that means me going to the bench or not only time will tell.

“I’d like to think I haven’t let anyone down since I came in.

“People might say the 4-5-1 suits me, but for me I don’t think it’s that different because me and Karl were playing as a two and Dave was bombing on.

“If you ask the back four I think it probably helps them if we’re playing 4-5-1 away from home and undoubtedly it helps when there is an extra midfielder coming back.”

Potter will not complain if he is dropped – but he does want to avoid having to play right midfield again.

With Michael Kightly out he is an option that McCarthy may use if he decides to shift Stephen Elliott up front, but a reluctant one.

“I think the main thing for me is playing in the middle,” he said.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll always express the view that I hate playing wide in midfield.”