McCarthy is refusing to describe the game on Sunday as make or break to Wolves' chances of Premier League survival. But he is aware of its significance, with Wolves still in the bottom three with just three games remaining of the campaign. McCarthy said: "I wouldn't use the words 'must win'. What happens if we win the last two games? I don't know what it's going to take. "But it is getting to the stage where we need to play better than we have and there's no better time than a local derby. "If form goes out of the window then fantastic because they've been in good form and we haven't. If it evens things up then great. "It's a huge, huge game and I'm not going to play it down at all because that would be ridiculous. "It's a time to show all that spirit and fighting spirit that we've had in abundance at this club and for it to come to the fore for a game that matters more than it has done for a long, long time." McCarthy is still unsure how many points it will take for Wolves to escape from their current predicament. He said: "Everybody in a Wolves colour is looking at all the other games and thinking 'West Ham, Blackpool, Wigan, they can all win their last three games'. "They'll be thinking Blackpool can win at Tottenham and they'll get something at Manchester United on the last day because they'll have beaten Chelsea and won the league already. "It's nonsense and complete and utter rot and gobbledegook. Since when do they suddenly come to the last three games and win them all? "I remember when we won the Championship. Everyone was looking at our fixtures when we were six points clear with three games to play and thinking 'if we don't get any points and they win'. "Do me a favour, it's not going to happen! None of us have won three games on the bounce for ages! "I don't know what it's going to take except a right bit of mental toughness to get some points out of the games. It might mean that we have four points, or five points, or three points - I've no idea." McCarthy added: "Everyone is looking at West Ham's home games against Blackburn and Sunderland thinking they'll win them because they played well against Man City and Chelsea. "Well so did we but then we get Wigan here and Bolton here and we don't perform because the onus is on us to win. "Let's all fight it out, get our fighting heads on and have a scrap and make sure at least we do our own job and sod the rest and let them get on with it." McCarthy will be looking for his players to show a combination of passion and calmness in the heat of battle against the Baggies. He said: "The players have to be aware of what's at stake or what the game is about. "They've got to show everything I've had out of my team all season long - spirit, aggression, toughness. "But they've got to be calm as well and if they just show those characteristics and nothing else then they will run around like headless chickens and it doesn't work. "They've got to be able to play football with that intensity that the team needs to create." Striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake is expected to be available after missing the last two games with a hamstring injury.
