Preview: Blackpool home

Wolves welcome Blackpool to Molineux tomorrow, with the Tangerines looking for revenge for a pre-Christmas defeat to the Midlanders at Bloomfield Road. Dean Saunders is also looking for his first win in charge, having overseen a 1-1 and a 0-0 so far.

Carl Ikeme: Had the game of his life at Bloomfield Road

As I said, Blackpool will be coming to Molineux with revenge on their mind - following Wolves' 2-1 away win at the seaside just before Christmas. On that night, two Sylvan Ebanks-Blake goals - including one from an incredibly debateable penalty decision - secured the points for Stale Solbakken's side. But it was the performance of Carl Ikeme - the performance of his life nonetheless - that caught the eye of the watching Sky cameras and earned him the deserved man of the match award. He pulled off save after save to deny almost all of Blackpool's 15 shots on target. On that night, Tom Ince single-handedly tore Wolves to pieces, but just couldn't beat the giant Brummie stopper. And, as mentioned in the last preview blog between these two sides, the last time Blackpool visited Molineux they were on the end of a 4-0 thrashing, with DJ Campbell making things harder for them as he was sent off on the stroke of half-time. Again, Ebanks-Blake got himself a brace to help record Wolves' biggest ever Premier League win. Speaking of meetings at Molineux, Blackpool haven't even picked up a single point away to Wolves in their last 7 visits here, whilst they have only tasted success once in their last 16 trips here - a 2-1 win in 1964.

Steve Thompson has struggled in caretaker charge at Blackpool

That Wolves win at Bloomfield Road was Michael Appleton's first defeat as Blackpool manager. However, it is not the former-Pompey boss who will be in the dugout at Molineux tomorrow - Appleton having hopped across Lancashire to take the daunting job at Blackburn Rovers on the day we drew 1-1 with Rovers. Blackpool's caretaker manager, Steve Thompson, has taken charge of the 3 matches since Appleton's departure and all of them, interestingly, have seen the Seasiders slip to 2-1 defeats - away to Charlton and at home to Fulham (in the Cup after extra-time) and league leaders Cardiff. Blackpool actually find themselves in a similar position to us - they're only a point ahead of us (and 2 places above us) and are bottom of the division's form table, having only got 2 points from their last 6 games. Given our tendancy to throw points away, we must be wary of Blackpool late on - they've scored 16 goals in the last 15 minutes of games this season, more than any other club in the division. Even though I said it last week and it finished 0-0, I do predict there will be goals this week. Blackpool are the 6th highest scorers in the division, while at the other end they've only kept 5 clean sheets. A concern for Wolves is that Kevin Phillips is back fit and ready for selection - the striker looking to keep up his impressive goals tally against us.

Wolves struggled to impress in all areas at Hillsborough last week

For Wolves, this Blackpool fixture kicks off what is supposed to be quite a busy week for the club. With Saunders keen to get players in and out over the coming few days, and a trip to high-flying Leicester on Thursday, it's going to be all hands on deck at Molineux. So far under the Welshman, Wolves have had two very distinctly different performances. Against Blackburn, they were full of energy, creativity and hunger. But against Sheffield Wednesday last week, that same team looked as bad as they had during the darkest defeats of the Solbakken era (i.e. Peterborough and Ipswich). There was absolutely no invention going forward, no creativity, no passion, not even a solid defence (despite the clean sheet). Nope, all there was was 11 players clinging on to a point with the tips of their fingernails. By all accounts, we were greatly let off the hook - Wednesday's poor, poor finishing saving us the humiliation of a deserved drubbing. To not even have a shot on target is embarassing. The fans will be demanding a response back on home turf and Molineux might be an ugly place to be at full time if the same dross as last week is served up.

David Davis: Has begun to show his best form of late

Wolves can at least count of the now-fully-fit Jamie O'Hara to spark some life into them, while Dave Edwards will be a welcome sight back in the squad as we've greatly missed the energy he gives us. Kevin Foley, surely, cannot be allowed to continue in the side given his horrific season and I would love to see Peszko start in his place - whilst allowing Ronald Zubar to build on his impressive showing at Hillsborough last week. Danny Batth too - why he isn't picked ahead of Berra is beyond me. Clearly these managers must be seeing something to not pick the Dudley defender because I certainly can't see what he's doing wrong to be behind the abysmal Scotsman. Kevin Doyle, too, looks spent at Wolves and I'd like to see Cassidy and Ebanks-Blake link up at Molineux tomorrow, whilst the sight of Sigurdarson returning to the bench is sure to warm hearts on a cold day in Wolverhampton. And finally, as much as I am a die-hard fan of Karl Henry, I can't help but feel we would be better served pairing O'Hara with David Davis - the young midfielder showing his Premier League form in recent weeks. He looks oh so comfortable on the ball, has shown he won't shirk a tackle, and provides us with more energy in the middle of the park than the skipper currently is.

I must be honest here - I'm really not looking forward to this game. I'm struggling to really get excited about Wolves at the moment. I hope tomorrow proves me wrong and ends up being the most exciting game we've seen at Molineux in ages but, if truth be told, I can see it being one of those games where we all go home and say "I wish that had been called off". Saunders certainly has a task on his hands to stop this rot and it will take him a while to do it. A win would certainly go a long way to helping that but, despite Blackpool's poor record at Molineux, I can't see it happening tomorrow.

Prediction: Wolves 1-1 Blackpool.