Wolves boss Mick McCarthy today declared Sunday’s Black Country derby the “perfect time” to end their Molineux misery.

McCarthy’s side host Albion having failed to win their previous six home games since the December 4 win over Sunderland.

Wolves have taken just one point from 15 at Molineux – the 2-2 draw against Norwich – while losing to Stoke, Chelsea, Villa and Liverpool, as well as exiting the FA Cup to Birmingham.

But McCarthy believes the arrival of their arch-rivals provides the ideal opportunity to repeat their three-point haul against the Baggies last May.

“We’ve got decent away results recently – QPR, Arsenal, Tottenham and Bolton,” said the boss.

“But it’s about time we did win at home. There’s no better time to have a performance and a result.

“There’s no point in talking about it other than to say it’s the perfect time for us to get the right performance and the right result.

“The fans want the bragging rights and it was a terrific performance in the corresponding game last season.

“The feeling is if we can win and drag them closer to us and put them in it as well, it gets us further away from the bottom three and concertinas that bottom of the league closer.”

Meanwhile, McCarthy admitted his decision to drop Christophe Berra at QPR last week was tough.

But he believes he has signed a top-class replacement in Sebastien Bassong.

“It was extremely difficult to leave him out and that tells you the faith I’ve had in him,” he said. “But when I signed Bassong, I got a left-sided defender who’s a top-class performer. He was very accomplished.”

McCarthy could be without four of his recent midfielders after Jamie O’Hara and Dave Edwards failed to train yesterday because of respective groin and thigh injuries, while Karl Henry completes his three-match ban and Emmanuel Frimpong is out for the season.

Kevin Foley also failed to train yesterday after undergoing an injection in his ankle, while Michael Kightly is out with a back problem.

McCarthy could be left with Nenad Milijas as his only fit central midfielder but remains hopeful of the others pulling through.