Express & Star

Matt Doherty targets two big Wolves home games – and praises Leander Dendoncker

Matt Doherty has backed Leander Dendoncker to fill the void left by Willy Boly's suspension – as Wolves target two big home games.

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Leicester City and West Ham United are the visitors to Molineux in the next two weeks, with Wolves also featuring in the FA Cup fourth round in between.

Boly will miss all three games after Wolves decided not to appeal his red card.

And Dendoncker could replace him the side after his impressive showing at the Etihad on Monday.

Doherty said: "We'd have no problems if he played – he's played at the World Cup and is a Belgium international, he plays at a high level and trains great every day, so there;d be no problem with him slotting in.

"He's quite versatile, he can play central midfield or at the back, he's 23 and a very good player.

"He's quite quiet but he's come to a new country and club. His English is pretty good, he's fitted in well and it'll just be like normal if he plays."

Both Leicester (eighth) and West Ham (ninth) are only two points ahead of Wolves in the table.

But Doherty knows Wolves have to improve their recent home performances if they're to claim the points they need.

"We need to make it a bit of a fortress and pick up a few more points there, especially with where we're looking to go," he added.

"I know we lost our last league game at home but we need to make it count.

"We want to finish as high as possible so we need some good results.

"We need to put Man City out of our system as soon as possible and move on.

"It was a hard night. They controlled from the start, got the goal, we had a man sent off and you're doing your best with damage limitation, once they were 2-0 it's almost game over.

"Once we went down to 10 you're thinking 'it could be anything' but we defended well enough and kept them to long-range-ish shots in the second half and they've scored off a cross.

"They controlled the game, that's why they're the champions (but) they weren't running riot and carving us open.

There aren't many positives to take from 3-0, especially with the standards we've set ourselves. We came into the game thinking we could get something."

Reports have suggested Doherty is on the verge of signing a new contract but he said: "It's not true, there's no truth in it at all."