Dave Edwards: Wolves can go up again

Midfielder Dave Edwards today insisted Wolves can cope with the demands of the Championship as he eyed a double promotion.

Edwards reckons Kenny Jackett's side are a better team than when they were last in the second tier ahead of the start of the new campaign.

Jackett has rebuilt the club, culminating in last season's record-breaking League One campaign where they won 103 points to clinch the title.

And the optimism remains ahead of Norwich's visit of Molineux for the Championship opener on Sunday.

The Canaries and Southampton achieved successive promotions from League One to the Premier League, although Neil Adams' side were relegated last term after three seasons in the top flight.

And Edwards believes there is no reason why Wolves cannot emulate them and claim their own promotion prize.

"We've just got to look at clubs like Southampton who achieved a double promotion and a lot of lads from their League One days hadn't played in the Championship," he said.

"They went in there and grew as the season went on and that's what we've got to look to do.

"If we can look to be anywhere near that top half of the table going into the second half of the season and have a second half like we did last year, we're going to be somewhere near.

"No-one's going to get carried away but that's got to be the ambition.

"It's a progression and we need to make sure we get enough points to start off with because after what happened last time (in the Championship), we've got to hit the ground running, get our points and then assess again in the middle of the season.

"We'll know then if we're in a position to be challenging.

"I'm sure we're a lot better off than when we were relegated even though the Championship has got a lot better.

"The whole club is galvanised with a new team spirit. We've got to try to ride this wave and keep the positives going."

Edwards was part of the team who won the Championship under Mick McCarthy in 2009 as they swept to promotion, scoring 80 goals but conceding 52.

The 28-year-old contributed three goals, although didn't score after netting in the 3-0 win over Derby in December 2008.

Michael Kightly and Matt Jarvis provided the service for Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Chris lwelumo as the strikers scored 41 times between them.

But while the class of 2014 may be very different, Edwards insisted they have a similar ethos.

He said: "When we went up from the Championship last time, we played 4-4-2 with the emphasis on attack; it was a case of 'if you score two, we'll try to score three' – that sort of football.

"We had two wingers in 'Jarvo' and 'Kites' and we used to get the ball out to them so they could get it into Sylvan and 'Lumes' in the box and they scored plenty of goals.

"That was a very different side but we're still a very attacking side, even though we played one up front a lot of the time.

"We created so many chances from the fluidity and the movement off the main striker – everyone was popping up in goalscoring positions and hopefully we can do that again this season."

And Edwards, who signed a two-year deal in June, wants to continue his resurgence after overcoming his injury problems to feature 31 times last year. He did still suffer a foot injury last season – relating to the foot he broke in 2013 – but believes his woes are behind him.

"I think when I've been fit under this manager, I've been quite lucky to start a lot of games," said the former Luton and Shrewsbury ace.

"I hate talking about injuries but I really hope I'm over the back of it.

"I really think I need a little bit of Lady Luck because I do look after my body really well and make sure I do everything right.

"Last season I missed two little spells of about three or four weeks – and both to do with my foot, a re-occurrence of when I broke it the year before.

"Hopefully it's all gone. I prepare myself in the right way, so I can minimise any chances of me missing games – hopefully that will pay off and I can get a bit of luck."