After a relatively uneventful first half of the season, the Wolves treatment room is now starting to get a few more visitors.
Last month, Matheus Cunha suffered a ‘significant’ hamstring injury, and has now missed the last four games for Wanderers. He is expected back at the back end of this month.
Hwang Hee-chan came off against Brighton last week and it has since transpired that he will miss around six weeks with a hamstring injury.
On Saturday, Pedro Neto came off at half-time for Wolves, with O’Neil saying after the game that the Portuguese was feeling a tight hamstring.
It’s a nightmare scenario for Wolves, with those three players having been absolutely crucial this season with their contributions in the final third.
Wolves are now in a tough spot, and the manager is going to need people to really step up – and one man who fans will hope really finds his feet soon is Jean-Ricner Bellegarde…
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde must step up for Wolves amid injury crisis
With Cunha and Hwang unavailable, and Neto seemingly a bit fragile at the moment, it’s really important that Bellegarde now steps up.
The Frenchman has had a mixed start to life at Molineux following his £13 million transfer from Strasbourg last summer.
He had some impressive outings early on. He was probably Wolves’ best player on his debut against Liverpool.
But in recent times he has struggled to make an impact.
It’s been a bit tricky for him though, because he’s had to play through the middle at times and it’s clear it’s not a position he is overly familiar with. At his previous club, he never played as far forward.
So he’s having to try and do a job in an alien position, in a league he’s only just come to.
That said, we’ve seen in flashes that he can be impactful. His recent run against Brighton to set up Mario Lemina’s goal was superb and Wolves fans will hope to see much actions like that.
Gary O’Neil needs some big performances from him now, in the absences of Cunha, Hwang and potentially Neto.
We have seen Pablo Sarabia step up in the last few months and Bellegarde – previously suggested as ‘quality’ by Strasbourg manager Patrick Vieira – needs to try and follow in the Spaniard’s footsteps.
It is going to be a big test for Wolves to get through this period without Cunha and Hwang, but Bellegarde and Sarabia can both come to the fore then Wolves may still be in a position where they are challenging for European football by the time the pair come back.