Wolves midfielder David Jones insists the club can cope with the heat of a Premier League survival battle after winning the Championship title.

Jones is one of several veterans of last season’s promotion and reckons that experience has been a perfect grounding for the stress of a survival run-in that takes in fellow strugglers Bolton tomorrow.

Similar tests follow against Burnley, West Ham, Stoke, Blackburn, Portsmouth and Sunderland.

But Jones believes it’s water off a duck’s back for McCarthy’s battlers.

He said: “It was a different kind of pressure being at the top of the table last season, but it’s still an experience you use for this situation.

“Everyone knows the importance of this game and we’ll be looking to put on a good performance but the most important thing is getting a result.”

Jones insists last week’s largely solid performance in the 2-0 defeat against Chelsea has put the players in confident mood for tomorrow’s test.

He said: “We had a good performance against Chelsea particularly with how many opportunities we created. We’ve been playing well recently with a good win against Tottenham and then a good performance against Chelsea.

“Even before that we were playing well. If we can replicate that sort of level against Bolton then we’ve got a chance.”

Despite Bolton going 505 minutes without scoring in the league, McCarthy has been careful to stress the importance of staying solid tomorrow to give the team the best possible chance of getting points.

Jones revealed Wolves’ mindset will be different to their approach to the Chelsea game, even with the match potentially pivotal to both team’s fortunes.

He said: “You try not to think about the game in any different terms but it’s difficult not to put the extra emphasis on certain games. Before the season you probably look at games like this as one which is going to be very important against a team likely to be around you in the table.

“There’s more of an emphasis on trying to get the three points than there would have been last Saturday.”

With seven of their last 12 games away from home – including survival rivals Burnley, West Ham and Portsmouth – Wolves could be forgiven for thinking their chances of survival are restricted.

But Jones reckons the team will still be looking to impose themselves on the hosts.

He said: “I’m sure the Bolton crowd and their team will be up for it. They’ve lost a couple of games this week and will be keen to bounce back and everyone will be fired up. But we’ll be fired up as well and even though we’re away from home won’t be afraid to impose our game on them.

“We’ve done that a number of times this season and hopefully we can have that cutting edge to take the points.

“There are so many teams down there and putting together a couple of wins can be massive. Hopefully we can do that at some stage but with so many teams involved it looks like it’s going to go right to the wire.

“We’ve grown in confidence and have put in some good performances of late and have looked assured. Everyone is confident with the spirit and atmosphere we’ve got in the dressing room that we’re positive and upbeat about what we can achieve and everyone is firmly focused on staying up.

“We’ve shown this season that we can give a good account of ourselves.”

McCarthy is set to name an unchanged team for the third game in a row tomorrow, but Jones also believes the whole squad need to stay on full alert for the run-in.

He said: “I’m sure there will be changes over these last 12 games and people who haven’t been involved recently may well come in.

“We’ll be looking for everyone to chip in with a goal or a performance which keeps us in the league.”