Wolves suffer injury horror on eve of Arsenal clash

Wolves have been dealt a huge blow to their preparations against Arsenal after Gary O'Neil confirmed several players would be missing through injury.

Molineux plays host to the Premier League clash between Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Gunners tomorrow. The match is being shown on Sky Sports at the later kick off time of 7.30 pm.

It's been a free game week for Wolves, whereas Arsenal have been involved in UEFA Champions League action. Mikel Arteta's side went out at the quarter-final stage to Bayern Munich.

Wolves are the side however that are the team that are dealing with injuries. In his pre-match press conference, O'Neil has revealed that five players will miss out and two may be reduced to a bit-part role.

Nelson Semedo felt a tight hamstring at the end of the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest last week. The 30-year-old has now been ruled out of Saturday's clash after being unable to overcome the problem.

Joining him on the absentee list is top scorer Matheus Cunha. The Brazilian international has 11 goals and six assists this season but with a calf injury sustained from the draw at the City Ground, he's also ruled out. Cunha had only just returned to action after spending February and most of March out with a hamstring injury.

Centre-back Craig Dawson travelled to Nottingham last week and was part of the match-day squad but did not enter the pitch. The former West Ham man was revealed to have been playing through the pain barrier and it was suggested he might require surgery and now he is set to undergo the knife to address the problem.

Midfielder Jean-Ricner Bellegarde is still unable to play having not played since before the international break. His last match was against Fulham on March 9 and since then he's missed the FA Cup defeat to Coventry City and four league games. It was suggested initially by the manager he would return around the Aston Villa game but that has proven not to the the case.

Pedro Neto is Wolves’ longest absentee at the minute. A serious hamstring injury suffered against Fulham last month has put the Portuguese international out until around mid-May.

Two players in Hwang hee-chan and Rayan Ait-Nouri could be available but their game time will be limited. Hee-chan returned to action last week, coming on as a substitute after recovering from a hamstring injury. Ait-Nouri was meant to play some part against Forest last week and was going to be brought to Nottingham, but he didn’t play.