Fresh injury blow for Wolves' Nouha Dicko

The four-goal forward missed Mali's 2-0 defeat against Malawi last weekend, after suffering tight hamstrings again in training when he was passed fit by Wolves before he travelled to join up with the squad a week ago.

Dicko faced a 10-hour flight from Namibia before returning home yesterday to be assessed by Wolves.

Team-mate Bakary Sako, who played in the Malawi game, is still with the squad preparing for tomorrow's final African Nations Cup qualifier against group winners Algeria, which Mali need to win to be sure of making the finals in Equatorial Guinea.

Head coach Kenny Jackett said: "Dicko felt his hamstring in training and has come back, so we shall see.

"As for this Saturday, I think he's extremely doubtful. He flew back into the country yesterday and he's doubtful for Saturday, but you never know."

Dicko missed the three games before the international break with the same problem and Jackett admits the problem has resurfaced.

He said: "We'll see - the good thing is there's no damage but it's recurring so it does seem as if there's an underlying problem.

"And it would be a risk. Hopefully we don't need him (on Saturday). He was sensible enough to not involve himself on Saturday and get a flight back.

"It doesn't seem to be too bad. It's only some tightness but it shows how close it was last week and how unpredictable hamstring injuries can be.

"Hopefully we can get to the bottom of it and make sure he has no more problems. He's picked this up after being approved by ourselves and myself to go (with Mali).

"Maybe he had that in his mind, but as of last Friday and Saturday he was fine.

"He missed the last series of internationals with a heel problem, probably during that two-week period that cleared up and he trained and it was OK."