Andy Keogh fears Wolves have already become a Championship ‘scalp’ but insists they have the squad to cope with being top dogs and deal with growing injuries.

Tuesday’s battling 2-1 win over Crystal Palace kept Wolves top on goal difference ahead of Birmingham as the Molineux side extended their best start for 46 years.

It came at a cost, with Dave Jones limping off with a back injury to become the fifth first-choice player to be injured this season after Jody Craddock, George Elokobi, Matt Jarvis and Chris Iwelumo.

Matt Murray and Mark Davies also remain out of senior contention at the moment through injury.

Keogh, who scored the winner against Palace, believes Wolves can deal with the mental and physical hurdles being tossed their way, however.

He said: “We’re taking it in our stride and we’ve shown people we can grind out results and play football. People are going to be looking at us as a scalp and it’s up to us to deal with that.

“A lot of teams fear us when they play us – we’re playing more free-flowing, attacking football and we’ve pace to burn.

“There are going to be some bad games, but it’s up to us to keep those to a minimum. As for the injuries, they reduce our strength in depth, but apart from George, they’ll all be back soon.

“The one common denominator is we’re all winners. The lads can be disappointed when they’re not in the team, but they’re on the bench and ready to make a difference.”

Keogh insists it is no surprise for Wolves to be topping the table so early in the campaign.

He said: “We finished seventh last season but wasted a lot of points. We’ve tightened up – ‘Stears’ has come in at the back and done brilliantly, as has ‘Wardy’ at left back, and Dave Jones has come into  midfield.

“We just have to keep doing what we do and if it doesn’t work at first, then we just have to keep doing it because we know it works.

“We shouldn’t dwell on the odd bad touch or bad pass, we just have to keep doing the same things and have faith in our ability.

“The skill will shine through.”