Lopetegui a level head as Wolves battle for survival

Boss Julen Lopetegui will refuse to hit the panic button in Wolves’ survival battle.

They go to Fulham on Friday three points above the Premier League drop zone after last weekend’s 1-0 loss to relegation rivals Bournemouth.

The Molineux setback halted Wolves’ momentum after three wins from four games, including a 3-0 defeat of Liverpool, but Lopetegui remains calm.

He said: “When you win all is not perfect and when you lose all is not bad. The most important thing is to be ready for the next challenge. We are thinking and talking about tomorrow.

“We are busy trying to improve the team in all the facets. We scored three against Liverpool, two against Southampton, maybe we can do better and we are going to try to work hard and improve all our team.

“Football is about being balanced in all the facets of the play.

“It’s important to be balanced, the mind and mentality is very important. Sometimes you start winning, sometimes you are losing. You have to have a good mentality. It’s very important to be strong in your mind and overcome bad moments.”

Sixth-placed Fulham could be without Aleksandar Mitrovic again with the 11-goal striker struggling with the hamstring injury which kept him out of the 1-0 win at Brighton but Lopetegui dismissed the significance.

He said: “We are not thinking about one player, they played in Brighton without Mitrovic and they won. They have very good players, they are going to play with 11 good players. We prepare for the match in the same way and not thinking about one player.

“As always with each match in the Premier League it’s going to be a very hard task but it’s a chance for us, we are going to play against one of the teams who are in the best form now. They are playing very well.

“We respect all the teams. They are in a good position in the table but we go there with the intention to make a good match. This is our aim.”