When I clicked onto the BBC Sport website this morning, the breaking news was that Martin O’Neill has agreed to become the next manager of Sunderland.

Should that report prove accurate it’s a gigantic coup for the Black Cats and will surely provide them with a timely boost ahead of Sunday’s crucial six pointer at Molineux.

Wolves have won their last 3 Premier League matches against Sunderland

Brilliant.

And in a week that’s seen the first managerial casualty of the Premier League season, the heat is well and truly on Mick McCarthy to deliver a result in front of an expectant home crowd.

Really, this has to be a win.

Make no mistake about it, if we don’t see a significant return from the three vital home matches prior to Christmas, we’re deep, deep in the brown stuff.

Sunderland arrive with the same number of points as Wolves having lost at home to Wigan the previous Saturday, signalling the end of the road for Steve Bruce.

Results certainly haven’t going their way, but there seems to be a consensus that they’ve perhaps not been playing as badly as their current league position suggests.

The Team

So what does Mick do this weekend with Karl Henry suspended? I dedicated an entire post to this subject earlier in the week simply because there are so many different options and it’s practically impossible to second guess our manager at the best of times anyway.

Hennessey, Zubar, Berra, Johnson, Elokobi, Jarvis, O'Hara, Edwards, Ward, Doyle, Fletcher

I just have a suspicion Mick will fancy the 442 in this one, with Ward remaining further forward in the midfield and Doyle joining Fletch up top.

Personally, I’d play 451, with Ward returning to left-back, a midfield trio of O’Hara, Edwards and Milijas with Jarvis and Hunt out wide.

Prediction League

33 people correctly predicted we’d lose at Stamford Bridge.

A stonking 11 of those got the 3-0 scoreline spot on too and take home the maximum 3 points on offer. The rest get a point.

A shout out then goes to Bagsy, Oli Baker, Louie, Stourbridge Wolf, Philly Pete, Clemens, Morph, alf white, Rich, Exeter Wolf and Yoda.

Well done.

It has to be victory this weekend so that is what I shall predict.

For no particularly logical reason I shall say 2-1 Wolves.

If you’re going to Molineux on Sunday, have a great time and get right behind the lads.

Up The Wolves.

Ten minutes is a long time in football.

Entering the final stages of this one at 2-1 down, misery had returned, Mick McCarthy was clueless and Wolves were all but relegated.

Yet somehow, by full-time, it was smiling faces, Mick was the hero and the fightback was very much on.

SEB clinically despatched his late chance

Happy days.

And make no mistake about it, our manager deserves a substantial slab of the credit for this result. After all, both his substitutions paid off big time, with Hunt tapping in the equaliser and SEB clinically slamming home the winner in the dying moments.

The gaffer’s influence spread further too. Playing Elokobi in the middle, bringing the awesome Ronald Zubar in at full-back and moving Foley into midfield proved a masterstroke. After all, big George proved to be our stronger center-half, Zubar was man of the match and Foley coolly slotted home the opener. Can’t ask much more than that.

It didn’t all go right though.

Having gone a goal up just after the break, Wolves immediately set about defending like it was the final five minutes. And you can’t camp out in your penalty area when there’s still half and hour to go, particularly against a side with a wealth of attacking options.

We nearly paid the price for that negative approach too, going from a goal up to a goal down in the space of ten horrid minutes. First, Richard Stearman let a flick-on run across his body, allowing Darren Bent to scamper clear and finish emphatically. And when a cross from deep was nodded passed Wayne Hennessy by the unmarked Danny Wellbeck, I think we all feared the worst.

But if there is a lack of quality in certain areas of this Wolves side, you certainly can’t question the character and determination of anyone in a gold shirt. You only have to look at the desire shown by Elokobi, climbing highest to power in the header that lead to Hunt’s equaliser, to see how desperate these players are to turn things around.

Two players you can’t question the quality of are Doyle and Milijas, both of whom conjured sublime passes from nothing, opening the gates for SEB to power home his fourth Premier League goal of the season.

And what a finish it was from our number 9, readjusting his feet in the blink of an eye and taking aim to lift the ball high into the net, gobbling up a chance we quite simply couldn’t afford to miss.

What a moment.

Of course, this crucial win won’t turn our season around on it’s own.

But it’s a start.

And after the last few miserable weeks, I’ll take that.

With Wolves now five points from safety and hampered by a growing list of injuries, there doesn’t seem much cause for optimism ahead of Saturday’s game against Sunderland.

Following last weekend’s deflating loss at Blackpool, Mick McCarthy is now under intense pressure to deliver a result against his former side, knowing the consequences of another defeat could be severe – both for him and the club.

Wolves won this fixture 2-1 last season

Karl Henry has been ruled out for two months with medial knee ligament damage and with Dave Edwards and Adlene Guedioura already on the sidelines, we have very few options in midfield.

Christophe Berra will also sit this one out having picked up his fifth booking of the season. Still, there’s some good news on the defensive front, as Ronald Zubar could well be named in the squad having completed his return from injury with an hour’s run out for the reserves.

But what of Sunderland?

Well, they’re currently seventh in the table and following that impressive 3-0 win at Chelsea, all eyes are very much on them in their first away match since the victory at Stamford Bridge. Interestingly though, that famous triumph was their only win on the road to date, with four draws and two defeats in their other games away from the Stadium of Light.

In fact, they’ve only won four games in total this season, which just goes to show how important scraping a few draws together can be.

Steve Bruce has his own injury problems to contend with too and will be without his first choice center-half pairing of Titus Bramble and Michael Turner for this one. That’s a massive boost for Wolves as the Mackems have built much of their success to date on a consistent and solid back-line.

The question is though, can we exploit that?

This is the team I think we’ll see from Wolves:

Hahnemann

Foley
Stearman
Mouyokolo
Elokobi

Hunt
Mancienne
Jones
Milijas
Jarvis

Doyle

I’m certain we’ll go 4-5-1 and given our lack of options in defence and midfield, that lineup seems the most likely bet. Mick could opt to throw in Zubar, Ward or van Damme at the back, but I’d be surprised to see any of them recalled. He could also give Fletcher a start on the right side of midfield instead of Hunt, whose struggled in recent games.

Prediction League

Well done to Jed and Stourbridge Wolf for getting the result spot-on last weekend. Special mention to Stourbridge too for correctly predicting Doyle would break his duck against ‘Championship defenders’. No extra points I’m afraid though, especially as you’re rapidly closing the gap on me at the top.

Kowloon Wolf, Exeter Wolf and Martin all picked up a point each for guessing we’d lose, without predicting the correct score.

This weekend, against all better judgment, I’m backing Wolves to get that all important win.

I think we’ll once again struggle at the back against the pace of Bent, Wellbeck and Gyan, so a cleansheet seems unlikely. But I’m hoping this will be the game where a few things come off for our attackers, particularly against a weakened Sunderland defence.

2-1 Wolves.

If you’re going to Molineux this weekend, get right behind the lads and lets really show our support. They need it more than ever.

Up The Wolves.

Well, that’s that for another season. All done.

And what a season it’s been. Nobody in old gold knew what lay ahead back in August, but 38 Premier League games and 38 hard-fought points later we’ve landed 15th in the table.

Good effort Wolves.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I’d certainly have taken that at the start of the campaign. Wouldn’t you?

Nice to finish with a win too, thanks to an energetic, forward-thinking performance, capped with a superb, fizzing strike from Adlene Guedioura.

Speaking of the Algerian, it was great to get confirmation from Mick that the deal has already been tied up to make his move from Charleroi permanent. In my eyes, he’d done more than enough to prove his worth long before today’s late winner. He’ll be a useful addition to the squad for next season.

I only hope Kevin Doyle sticks around too. I’m certain we’ll receive enquiries and bids, so don’t be surpised if our record signing turns out to be our record sale, particularly if speculation linking Arsenal with a move for the player turn out to be true. He was once again pivotal in today’s victory, linking up play cleverly and cooly rolling home his 9th goal of the season from the penalty spot.

The player who won the spot-kick wasn’t too bad either. Indeed, Matt Jarvis was probably the best player on the pitch today, jinking away from defenders all afternoon and causing Sunderland no end of problems with his pace and trickery. He’s proved without doubt that he’s good enough to cut it at this level.

The same can be said of Karl Henry, who finished the season in the same way he started it; looking completely at home on the Premiership stage. He still has his critics, but our skipper has won many of them over with a seasons-worth of committed displays.

I could go on…

Craddock and Berra, superb. Zubar, getting better all the time. Jones, brilliant. Hahnemann, a rock.

All of these players have shown not just today, but over the course of the campaign that they’re good enough to compete with the best. They will undoubtedly form the basis of our squad for next season and deservedly so.

Of course, five or six players will be moved on and hopefully, a few significantly better ones will be brought in to replace them.

But that’s to be discussed, debated and argued about another day.

For the moment we can all breathe a massive sigh of relief, recharge our batteries and come back stronger next season.

I’m up for it if you are.

Up The Wolves.