Can Wolves now handle the expectation factor as they steel themselves for the visit of Hull?

It is a match tomorrow which Mick McCarthy’s players and the Molineux faithful will have viewed from the outset as the type of game they can – and arguably must – win.

Now they have to deliver knowing a two-week break for international fixtures will pass so much easier if the points are on the right side of the gain line.

Six from four games would represent a terrific start for McCarthy’s men, four from four would hardly be disastrous. But there would be just a touch of anxiety in the air if they were left on three points tomorrow evening.

The manager said: “Each of the matches have their own characteristics. The opening day was all about the first game back in the Premier League and everything that went with it.

“Then we went to Wigan having not won away for 758 years or whatever and could we get something out of that? And then the Manchester City game was another set of unique characteristics.

“Now comes this one. The lads have proved they can play in the Premier League. Can they go on from here?

“There will be no humdrum fixtures and we simply have to try to eke points out of all of them. If we were going to Hull, they would be expecting to beat us there.

“We have a better chance of beating these teams than we do Manchester United, Liverpool, Spurs or Chelsea. That’s just common sense.

“You should have a better chance in these games than you should against the big six or eight clubs. And we’ve got to try to make an advantage of Molineux and get the result we want.

“We are one point off from being ecstatic after three games. Had we beaten West Ham, got a draw against Wigan and lost to Manchester City, we would be sitting here delighted.

“But we’re only one point away from that total. Six points from four games? I’d be delighted with that.”

Hull’s boom-and-bust guide to Premier League survival last season was compelling viewing for neutrals.

Phil Brown’s side struck a blow for the little man in an electric start before reality and a long, slow decline began which left them teetering on the brink.

McCarthy said: “But Hull stayed up – and that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter how they did it, when they did it – they stayed up.

“Are they a role model for us? You have to be careful about role models. For years Charlton were every other club’s role model and look where they are now.

“The one thing we want to have in common with Hull, Stoke and Sunderland and the rest is that we stay up. That’s all. But we will have to do it our way.

“I don’t know why Hull’s season went the way it did. I bet Phil doesn’t either. I don’t know why we won all those games at the start of the season, but then had a bad run before we started winning again and took the title. It happens.”

Brown’s team are under attack from the outside with Sunderland boss Steve Bruce confirming he is after their central defender Michael Turner.

He said: “It is difficult to talk about individual players. We have registered an interest in the boy but that’s as far as it’s gone, as I am aware at the moment.”

If that speculation surrounding one of Hull’s key figures gives Wolves one extra per cent of an advantage they will take it, such are the margins for error at this level.

As for their own plans, McCarthy hinted that it will be back to a two-man strike force tomorrow after the five-man midfield served its purpose at Wigan and Manchester City.

Brown watched new striker Jozy Altidore come off the subs bench to inspire Hull to victory over Bolton last week before the teenage American, on a season’s loan from Spanish side Villarreal, marked his first start by claiming a goal in Tuesday’s 3-1 League Cup win over Southend.

He’ll be unleashed on Wolves at some stage tomorrow and Brown warns: “He seems to be unfazed by anything but that’s perhaps down to the assets of a 19-year-old.

“He can handle himself and he found himself up against an experienced team.

“There is a long way to go but I think he can be a real talent.”