Wolves boss Mick McCarthy has warned his side must nullify the massive set-piece threat posed by Aston Villa in the derby clash at Molineux.

McCarthy admits it is "unacceptable" Wolves have given away four goals from dead-ball situations already this season - against Blackburn, West Ham, Sunderland and Portsmouth.

Now they have to combat the menace from similar situations of Villa who have scored nine of their 12 Premier League goals this season from set-pieces mainly via the deadly delivery of Ashley Young.

McCarthy said: "We have got Villa and Stoke coming up in successive games and they will both be a real potent threat from set-pieces.

"Villa have got nine out of 12 goals in that way. [Ashley] Young was a £10million player when Villa bought him and he has improved since then. I would expect him to put good deliveries in and with John Carew, Richard Dunne and James Collins good in the air, they have certainly got a very potent threat.

"How do you stop it? The goals Villa got against Chelsea came from free headers. Stopping them having free headers would be a good start! That is really the essence of it."