Wolves handed major injury blow ahead of Liverpool trip as key man ruled out for 'weeks'

Rob Edwards spoke ahead of Saturday's game at Anfield and admitted the task of picking up a first Premier League win of the season has just become that little bit harder

Toti Gomes has been ruled out of Wolves' trip to Liverpool

Wolverhampton Wanderers has been handed a huge injury blow ahead of Saturday’s trip to Liverpool, with Rob Edwards confirming Toti Gomes is set to be out for several weeks.

The defender had been an ever-present under Edwards prior to missing Saturday’s defeat against Brentford, Wolves’ 10th loss in a row. With fellow center-back Emmanuel Agbadou currently at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), it leaves the Midlands club light on defensive options heading into Saturday’s clash at Anfield.

“Toti is out for a significant period of time with his hamstrings, so it’ll be weeks for him,” said Edwards during Tuesday’s pre-match press conference.

“It’s a big blow for him and the team, but it’s an opportunity for other people and that’s just the nature of the game at the moment.

“We’ve had a couple of muscle injuries over the last few weeks, and we have probably been pushing them harder and maybe risking one or two bits, but it’s always a shame when you get one of those.”

While Toti will miss out, Edwards said he is hopeful that Hugo Bueno will be fit to travel to Liverpool after he returned to training on Tuesday.

Bueno played in all of Wolves’ opening 13 league matches of the season, but has been struggling with a hip injury of late.

Bueno could be back to face Liverpool this weekend

Rodrigo Gomes, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Marshall Munetsi are all ruled out against Liverpool due to injury, while Tawanda Chirewa has also been called up to represent Zimbabwe at AFCON.

Meanwhile, bottom-place Wolves faces the daunting challenge of trying to earn a first win of the season at Anfield this weekend.

“I’m just thinking about the game itself, and we’re looking forward to another really difficult game, but going to Anfield is always enjoyable,” said Edwards, who has overseen an improvement in performances since his appointment as head coach last month, if not results.

Edwards has endured a tough start to life at Wolves

“It’s a real challenge, it’s one of the most difficult ones, but one of the ones you look forward to.

“It’s always an incredible atmosphere there, but it’s just another game and another opportunity for us.

“We’re seeing levels improving in training, we are seeing things that we want to see on a more regular basis, a bit more consistency, and we’ve had a lot of quite tight games, but then moments have affected us and we’ve come off the wrong end of the results,” he added.

Wolves has earned just two points so far this season and is a staggering 16 points behind 17th-place Nottingham Forest.