Having allowed Sasa Kalajdzic and Fabio Silva to leave on loan, Wolves are short in attack — especially with top scorer Hwang Hee-chan at the Asian Cup with South Korea.
Matheus Cunha has been excellent this term, scoring six goals, but is not a natural No 9.
Wolves like Danny Ings but the former Southampton forward may not be allowed to leave West Ham, who are also depleted. Wolves chased Che Adams last summer and still admire the Southampton striker, yet Saints are pushing for promotion and Adams has nine goals this term.
O’Neil’s first game in charge was a 4-1 home defeat by Brighton in August. His side have made strong progress since then as they have made light of financial difficulties and are well ahead of O’Neil’s original target, which was simply to keep Wolves in the Premier League.
When you come up against a top coach or side, it’s always good to see where we are and what we could achieve,’ he said. ‘Going there will be a good test of our character.
We are two clubs who made big profits on transfers in the summer, so it’s impressive they’ve managed to keep it going. It will be another tough test.
‘There were loads of chances for both teams in the first game. They’re an incredibly well-coached side, with one of the best managers (Roberto De Zerbi).
