Gary O'Neil issues injury updates for Hwang Hee-Chan and Mario Lemina after Wolves vs Brighton

Gary O'Neil has confirmed both good and bad news for Wolverhampton Wanderers on the injury front following the 1-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion in the Emirates FA Cup fifth round.

Energetic midfielder Mario Lemina has a clean bill of health after an initial worry over a contact injury but attacker Hwang Hee-Chan has suffered a minor hamstring issue. The South Korean will undergo a scan on Thursday to figure out his likely return date but O'Neil is almost certain the trip to Newcastle United on Saturday will come too soon.

"Mario is fine, his was a kick. We're hopeful that will settle down in a couple of days," O'Neil confirmed. "When I said to him, 'How are you?', he said he'll be there on Saturday. He's fine. Changy's one is disappointing. In my opinion, this game is so big that it should be played on Saturday at three o'clock where you've had a week to prepare and you can play your strongest team without concerns.

"We managed to rotate a few but wanted to take the game seriously, we wanted to win the game. Unfortunately, Changy didn't get through it. He felt something in his hamstring – small, nothing like Pedro Neto's or Matheus Cunha's. He's had a tough spell while he was away, he wasn't fit for much of the camp with South Korea. He missed a big block of training and hasn't been as sharp as before," O'Neil continued.

The head coach joked that he doesn't have a clue who to play up front now that Hwang is sidelined, with a trip back to the drawing board imminent. Wolves will spend very little time on the grass before their crucial Premier League clash at Newcastle, which has become a six-pointer for Europe given Wanderers' meteoric rise. The focus will instead be on the tactical side, with much of the time to be spent in the meeting room, O'Neil revealed.