Wolves boss Gary O’Neil expects Matheus Cunha to be involved against Burnley on Tuesday (7.45pm kick-off). The 24-year-old has been sidelined since February 10 with a hamstring injury, which was due to keep him out for up to three months.
A rapid recovery saw him in contention for Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Aston Villa, where O’Neil chose not to risk him. However, the Brazilian is expected to be part of the squad at Turf Moor.
“I think we will see him on Tuesday. He will definitely be in the matchday squad barring anything going wrong between now and then,” O’Neil said.
“He’s miles ahead of schedule. When the scan results came through for the injury, it was expected to be somewhere in the region of 10 to 12 weeks. He is just over six and he’s doing absolutely everything.
“He was knocking my door down to be involved in the Aston Villa game but we have to make sure it’s right for him.
“We obviously had a setback or two already this season from injuries so if you have medical information that he shouldn’t quite be ready yet…
“You have Matheus Cunha who looks ready and tells you he’s ready, he has rung me about four times at 9.30 or 10 o’clock at night telling me how ready he is.
“But I want to help him because I understand he feels ready but we need to make sure we tick off enough boxes.
“He did a great session on the grass on Friday. Instead of risking him against Villa, he was able to really test his hamstring with a good session.
“And that put him in a great spot for Tuesday night and into next Saturday.”
Wolves head to Burnley to face a team that drew 2-2 at Chelsea with 10 men on Saturday and O’Neil is expecting a tough test.
“There are definitely not any easy games in the Premier League,” he said. “The situation we find ourselves in, going to Burnley will be tough as it was at Villa.
“That doesn’t mean we accept we can’t have a real big impact on how it goes and take three points because we definitely can and we are desperate to go there and win.
“Get to 44 points and do everything we can over the next three days to recover and make sure the players are ready.
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