Wolves boss Mick McCarthy is unlikely to throw his returning stars into Premier League action on Sunday. Michael Kightly, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Kevin Foley and Jody Craddock are all back from recent injury lay-offs, but will not start at Sunderland this weekend.

"They will be in the squad. It's impossible for someone who has been out for six months (Kightly) to play 70 minutes last night and then play 70 minutes on Sunday, at full tilt. It doesn't happen," McCarthy told the Birmingham Mail.

"So the four lads who played last night won't be starting and we'll have fresh legs in the team for Sunday.

"But it's great that they've played."

He added: "We've had Foley, who's been out for a month, and Ebanks-Blake has been out for the guts of that as well.

"Craddock has been out for two to three weeks so maybe that had an effect on us not having that extra bit of zip and pace to run in behind United and open them up when we had the opportunities.

"But at least they have got some minutes under their belts."