Wolves goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann believes his team will have to beat one of the ultimate goalkeeping role models if they are to overcome Everton.

Toffees No 1 Tim Howard has kept 37-year-old Hahnemann from being the regular United States goalkeeper for the last four years, first when Villa’s Brad Friedel quit the international scene in 2002 then when Kasey Keller eventually relinquished his grip on the national No 1 spot in 2006.

Hahnemann admits they are like chalk and cheese off the pitch, but the former Reading shotstopper is full of admiration for his rival.

He said: “Tim’s been playing excellently this season and he’s a really good goalkeeper. He’s got just about everything you need to be around for a long time and he’s proved himself to be one of the best – he’s kept me out of the US team for a while, which is a nightmare!”

Although Howard is listed as being 6ft 2ins tall – two and a half inches taller than Hahnemann, the Wolves man feels the former Manchester United goalkeeper gives the impression of being quite compact – which is where his inspiration comes in.

Hahnemann said: “He’s not as big as most of the other keepers in the Premier League but he makes up for it by coming for everything and has very quick reflexes with his jumping and so on.

“You only have to look at three of the best keepers in the Premier League in Tim, Pepe Reina and Shay Given and they’re three of the smallest.

“But they make up for it on the other side. You’re at a disadvantage if you’re not a certain size and maybe some guys don’t get the chance to play because of that.

“So kids can be inspired by people like Tim when they’re watching, because it just shows you don’t have to be 6ft 8ins or whatever to be playing in goal.

“If you set your mind to it, you can do pretty much what you want.”

So far there hasn’t been any banter between the two.

He said: “I haven’t exchanged texts or anything yet. We’ll see. Me and Tim get along great – we don’t hang out together because he doesn’t want to watch a concert with me that’s for sure!

“We’re completely different people and so we don’t see much of each other, but we get along fine.”

Hahnemann believes Everton’s League of Nations has taken to the English game like ducks to water.

He said: “They have so many good players that they have threats all over the place – speed, size, fighting spirit, they have just about everything that typifies English football.

“Yet they’ve done it with a mix of Australians, Americans and loads of different nationalities!Look at Tim Cahill – he’s not the biggest but he’s as good as anyone in the air and they’ve got Louis Saha stretching teams up front.

“So there are lots of reasons why they’ve been at the top. We had a tough game up there when I thought we played well and could have won.

“Because of their injuries and poor run earlier in the season, I don’t know where they’re going to end up, but they’re playing really well.

“They’re the only team to beat Manchester City at their place this season, so they’ve got to be among the best on current form.”

While Wolves’ resurgence means only the top five teams have scored more on their travels, their tally of 10 in front of their own fans is comfortably the worst in the top flight.

McCarthy is convinced bad misfortune has played a part.

He said: “We’ve been unlucky in games at home recently. They say luck evens out and we’ll see how that works out at the end of the season when we look at the stats.

“We’re playing so well right now and we’ve been getting better all the time over the last few months. We’ve got seven points out of the last nine from three away games.

“Four points would have been a good return, but these six-pointers such as West Ham could have a huge impact on our season.

“We’ve kept West Ham below us and we’ve moved away from Burnley and Hull which is the important thing and dragged another team into it in Wigan.

“Any time you can drag teams in, it puts pressure on them. I don’t know what their run-in is but we know we have a tough couple of games now, but everyone plays these games – for example, West Ham lost to a 10-man Arsenal before us.”

Hahnemann’s links with Howard go back even longer, to when he was befriended by the current Everton goalkeeping coach Chris Woods, a decade and a half ago.

He said: “The first team I trained with in England was Sheffield Wednesday when Chris Woods was the goalkeeper there.

“It was in 1994 or 1995. He was living right by the hotel I was staying in, so we would hang out in one of the local places in Sheffield having dinner in there and the odd beer.

“He helped make me feel at home. It was great and really helped me out with keeping as well. It was my first time training in England alongside some of the guys I’d seen play so much.

“The team there was unbelievable at the time with David Hirst, Mark Bright and Chris Waddle. They can make a goalkeeper look stupid in training!

“That was my first time coming over here after coming out of college. The team I played with at the time arranged for me to go over.

“It was good to get a taste of it and made me realise this was where I wanted to come. I managed to come back a few years later to join Fulham. The games were awesome to watch and the atmospheres were great.

“He was a super solid keeper and I learned a great deal from him. We’re not massively in touch but I see him around at games and so on. Obviously I know Tim very well and he thinks Chris is a great coach. He gets on with him really well.

“Training with him back then you knew he could be a good coach.”

Bizarrely, Hahnemann also thanked Woods for saving his life.

The Wolves goalkeeper explained: “It was ‘all the cars on the wrong side of the road’ thing. We’d just been for a sandwich at lunch and I was about to step onto the road forgetting the cars were coming from the other direction.

“This huge arm comes across my chest and I’m like ‘what are you doing’? Then a car went past at about 50 right in front of my toes!

“I’d been looking the wrong way!”