Wolves given injury boost ahead of Leicester clash

Jonny Castro Otto and Hwang Hee-chan have already returned to matchday squads after overcoming their injuries, while Pedro Neto, Willy Boly, Yerson Mosquera and Joao Moutinho have also joined team training this week.

Moutinho is the most likely player to return on Sunday after his brief calf knock and while the long-term injuries to the others may keep them out for the Leicester game, head coach Bruno Lage is delighted to finally have a fully fit squad.

He said: “We have no injuries, everyone is fit. That is the massive news I can give everyone.

“They are training and now it’s about timing. Boly, Joao, Pedro, Hwang, Jonny and Mosquera – it’s now about understanding how much they can play and help the team.

“I have all the players in training and this is the good news we needed. We have waited for this moment since the first day and it has come in the middle of February.

“Now it depends on the response of everyone on each day. Lets see what happens for the next games.

“They are important players and they are coming. They watched what their team-mates did without them so they need to come with everything.

“There’s no pressure because some of the guys have had a lot of time without training or games, I need to take the best decisions.”

In his early days at Wolves, Lage consistently spoke about the need to create a competitive squad.

Although he still has work to do, the boss now feels the squad has been bolstered by the return of some key players.

“The most important thing, and we watched that this week, is the level of training,” he added.

“Now, with the competition, we can feel it and that’s the good thing.

“It’s been a very good week because everyone is training and the level of competition and training is higher than before.

“This is what the club needs. When they go to bed they need to sleep well but not too much because they’re thinking about the players competing with them for their position.

“In some positions we have more than two players, we have three left-backs now that Jonny is back. He needs to fight because Marcal and Rayan are doing very well, but they also cannot sleep because Jonny is working very hard.

“In the same way with Pedro and Hwang, they are coming and we have Daniel, Trincao and Chiquinho. There’s a lot of competition, which is good for the club.”

With stars such as Youri Tielemans and Wilfred Ndidi marshalling the Leicester midfield, Lage is expecting the key battles to fall in the middle of the park.

“That’s the challenge because they are top players and they can play in different ways,” he said.

“In the last few weeks they have played in a different style. On Thursday they played in a 4-2-3-1, they can also play in 5-2-3 or 5-3-2.

“They have a good dynamic in different systems and we are preparing everything to be ready, because they can come with any one of those solutions.”