Wolves rocked by injury crisis for Arsenal clash as Pedro Neto update emerges and five miss out

Wolves are managing an injury list of eight players heading into Saturday’s Premier League clash with title challengers Arsenal, although they have received positive news regarding Pedro Neto.

The winger is back on the grass in training, taking to the turf for the first time since sustaining his hamstring problem against Newcastle United in March. There had been fears he would miss the rest of the season but he is in fact set to return in the coming weeks.

The Wolves star will not be ready in time for Arsenal at Molineux this weekend but Rayan Ait-Nouri could be set to return to the bench following a knock to his leg last week. However, Matheus Cunha will play no part while Hwang Hee Chan is struggling for fitness and will only likely be able to play half of the game, according to boss Gary O’Neil.

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He further confirmed that Nelson Semedo, Noha Lemina and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde are unavailable through injury while Craig Dawson is out for the season after undergoing an operation on Thursday, having struggled with an ongoing groin concern.

Speaking in Friday’s press conference, O’Neil said: "Daws has had his operation. He won't be back again (this season). He wasn't able to perform anywhere near what he was earlier in the season with the pain he had.

"We tried to manage him through little bits and the advice was to try and manage it conservatively first. We didn't want to leave it too much longer because of the pain he was in and he wasn't able to function at 100 per cent, and also because we need him back and firing for pre-season. He had his operation yesterday, all went well and he's feeling OK."

On Neto, O’Neil added: "Pedro is doing well, six weeks post the hamstring. He's on the grass going through some stuff with the fitness team. If everything goes well, he should have a part to play between now and the end of the season."

Cunha will be back before the end of the season, though, with O’Neil explaining he had suffered “a kick on his calf during the Nottingham Forest game and has done a little bit of damage to the muscle from the impact.”

He might be back for Wednesday’s match with Bournemouth but is certainly expected to return before next weekend’s clash with Manchester City. Semedo’s issue is not being seen as serious and he is also anticipated to return from his calf problem soon.

Bellegarde has, meanwhile, had to see a specialist for his knee injury picked up in early March but it is hoped he can return in the next few weeks, while debut-less Lemina’s hamstring setback is minor.