Saints offer tasty treat

George Burley's collection of big name signings and Premiership cast-offs were among the favourites to push for promotion at the start of the season after spending a whopping £7million in the summer.

But saddled by hefty expectations from the terraces the promotion push has withered in recent weeks and they now have it all to do to regain their top six spot.

And Burley's men will have to do it all against the backdrop of increasing supporter unrest.

If it all sounds strangely familiar to Molineux regulars, thats because its a virtual carbon copy of the position Glenn Hoddle's side found themselves in twelve months.

And just like Wolves last season there is a lot riding on it for the club. The Premiership parachute payments run out at the end of the season for the Saints and a mass exodus of players is expected from St Mary's if they don't make the top flight this season.

Southampton boss George Burley has branded it a 'must-win' game for his side and there is no doubt the pressure is on for the Saints.

Their hopes have hardly been helped by injuries to first choice strikers Gregor Rasiak and Kenwyne Jones – and the suspension of number one goalkeeper Kelvin Davies.

But while the mood in the out-of-sorts Saints camp is tense, the Wolves dressing room has a more relaxed feel to it.

The players were gathered for a team meeting before training yesterday – but instead of watching tapes of the Sheffield Wednesday draw they were treated to a showing of the cult classic 'Kes' instead.

The Molineux men were shown the famous scene where games teacher Mr Sugden – played by Brian Glover – pretends to be Bobby Charlton when he single-handedly takes on his pupils in a school football match.

The scene provoked much amusement among the players but there is no doubt McCarthy and his squad are deadly serious about the threat posed by Southampton.

Jamie Clapham expects to be back from his hamstring injury in time to face the Saints – and old manager George Burley – and he says they can take nothing for granted against their promotion rivals.

"Obviously I played under George at Ipswich and he's a good man. He gets his team passionate and playing good football.

"I expect them to come here to Wolves with no inhibitions and to try and attack us and get behind us.

"They need to win and they have good players so we need to be alert."

The veteran defender is delighted to be fit after two weeks of recuperation following the bruising game at Hillsborough.

Clapham got his chance thanks to Jackie McNamara's suspension and he is determined to make the most of it.

"It wasn't a bad tear but I did need to do a bit of work to get back fit again," he said.

"Barry (Holmes) and the team have been great to get me back. I have trained this week and had no reaction so hopefully I'll be in a position to play on Saturday – if I'm selected.

"This is where we need to start pushing on.

"We have tough games coming up but we've shown we can cope with it this season."