Wolves boss Mick McCarthy has hinted Jelle van Damme still isn’t ready for the rigours of 90 minutes in the Premier League and is unlikely to start against Villa.

The £2.5m summer signing had a mixed outing from the bench in the 3-1 defeat at Tottenham last Saturday, when he allowed Alan Hutton to run in on goal before the full-back was tripped by Stephen Ward for a penalty.

Van Damme, who has been plagued by injuries, has yet to play a full game for Wolves and was absent again for Tuesday’s extra-time Carling Cup win over Notts County.

“I don’t know whether he’s ready for this game – he only trained fully on Thursday,” said McCarthy.

“He’s done alright but he still finds the pace of the game and the physical nature of the Premier League different.

“If you look back, Ronald Zubar found it really difficult for a long time and it’s tougher than the leagues they’ve come from.

“He’s a terrific footballer – we’ve had some really good stuff from him but we need him to be fully fit.

“He hasn’t completed a game yet because of knocks and little injuries he’s picked up.”

McCarthy is likely to hand Christophe Berra an immediate recall alongside Jody Craddock in defence at the expense of Richard Stearman.

But he admits few if any of those on show in midweek impressed enough to force his hand.

“We haven’t played badly in the league and most lads know I’m not going to change things for the weekend,” said the boss.

“By making all those changes on Tuesday I wasn’t saying ‘play well tonight, you’re going to be in the side on Sunday’, I was giving them a game. I made loads of changes for that game at Manchester United last season and eight of them ended up playing at West Ham a few months later.

“But it’s about putting in a performance because somewhere down the line, they’re going to get a game.

“Steven Mouyokolo was playing his first competitive game and Nenad Milijas was only playing his second after the World Cup and he’s never really got up to the pace of the games. Marcus Bent hasn’t had a lot of football, so you have to give players games.”