Kevin Doyle has kicked off the countdown to Sunday’s derby against Villa by warning Wolves face a fight for their Premier League lives again this season.

Wolves go into their first derby of 2010-11 looking to bounce back in the Premier League after back-to-back defeats against Fulham and Tottenham, despite leading in both.

And Doyle said: “We’re still going to be fighting for our lives, I’m pretty certain of that. It won’t be cosy. It will be difficult.

“We’ll see but, if we relax and think we’re going to be fine because we’ve signed some players, that’s when it will bite us. We need to keep that bit of fear in us and keep playing well.

“We could end up staying where we finished last season because everyone else has strengthened in the Premier League. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to be in the bottom fighting to stay up.

“It’s still going to be very tough – in the last two games we got beat but we could easily have got something from those.”

Doyle admitted Tuesday’s Carling Cup win over Notts County was vital for rebuilding confidence before facing Villa.

The striker, who scored twice for his first club goals of the season, said: “It was. It wouldn’t have been nice to lose three on the bounce. It would have made the next few days a bit more stressful.

“Now we can go into the Villa game looking forward to it.”

Wolves spent a record £18million this summer on new signings but Doyle denies they have closed gap on teams like Villa.

He said: “I don’t know. We’ll see at the end of the season. We’ve strengthened but so have they, so we’ll see.

“It doesn’t mean we’re going to do better than last season.”

Doyle is disappointed not to be facing his Republic of Ireland team-mate Richard Dunne, who has been ruled out of the game with a knee injury.

The Wolves striker said: “I always like playing against ‘Dunny.’ It’s a shame because I’d already reminded him that I’m due a penalty against him after what happened here last year!

“It’s always a tough game against him and you don’t usually don’t get the better of him.”