Christophe Berra a doubt for derby
Christophe Berra has dealt Wolves a pre-derby blow by declaring himself a doubt for Sunday's Black Country showdown at Albion.
Christophe Berra has dealt Wolves a pre-derby blow by declaring himself a doubt for Sunday's Black Country showdown at Albion.
The Scotland international remains under treatment with a badly bruised thigh sustained after colliding with the post in last weekend's 1-0 win over Birmingham.
Manager Mick McCarthy and the player himself were both confident at the start of the week that he would be fit for the eagerly-awaited first top flight derby at the Hawthorns for 27 years.
But, with his leg still swollen, the 25-year-old could only participate in light jogging yesterday and time is running out for him to be fit.
He said: "At the moment, it's probably 'touch and go' whether I'm going to be fit.
"It's quite badly bruised but hopefully it will get better and settle down over the next day or two and we'll see how I am tomorrow. I did a bit of jogging on it yesterday.
"I'm probably 50-50 but I don't want to rule myself out. It's been getting every day with treatment and hopefully it will clear up quickly but we'll just have to see.
"I caught my hip as well but that's OK, now it's my thigh. The physios are doing as much as they can.I haven't lost any fitness from the training I've missed but I just need to be mobile.
"If I don't make this weekend, I'll definitely be ready for Boxing Day."
Should Berra miss out, McCarthy would almost certainly move George Elokobi to centre-back alongside Richard Stearman, which would mean Stephen Ward reverting to left-back after his heroics up front against Blues.
Wolves options are limited with Jody Craddock (thigh) already out while Steven Mouyokolo (back) is only in light training.
Of the other shorter term casualties, neither Mouyokolo, midfielders Michael Mancienne (knee) and David Jones (cut foot), winger Matt Jarvis (knee) or striker Kevin Doyle (thigh) trained fully yesterday, instead only doing light jogging with Craddock, Karl Henry and head of medical Steve Kemp.
Goalkeeper Carl Ikeme, who has a shoulder injury after his loan spell at Leicester, joined them.
But Jarvis remains hopeful of forcing his way into contention for Sunday.