Wolves defender Phil Ofosu-Ayeh suffers injury setback

The 25-year-old, who joined on a free transfer after leaving Eintracht Braunschweig in the summer, has been sidelined for a number of weeks with an ankle injury.

He didn't feature at all in pre-season but it was expected he would be in contention by the end of August.

However the right-back has struggled to cope with an extra workload in training, which Nuno said was also the case for young midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White.

"(Phil) is not getting closer, unfortunately," Nuno said.

"He's been struggling more and not responding well to the loads we've been giving him.

"Hopefully he'll get better. It's the same situation with Morgan Gibbs-White. Until he's with the group we cannot predict when they are going to be available."

The news is more positive on star winger Helder Costa. He was ruled out for two months after ankle surgery on July 10 and is making good progress, along with defender Kortney Hause.

Nuno added: "We hope Helder's back soon, he's doing okay.

"Hopefully he will start with the group some time now, I don't know exactly. It depends on how he answers to an increase of load.

"Kortney is also there. Ben (Marshall) had some minutes (against Southampton). When you have players outside and they start integrating you have to choose the right moment to do it.

"Don't rush because they can take a step back. Once they integrate they have to continue growing."

Will Nuno bring Costa straight back into the team, as he did with Marshall, or will be play under-23 games first?

The head coach replied: "I'd rather choose him to start with us. It's not about under-23s, he has to be integrated in the way that we work, with the team mates he's going to be with.

"Helder must start working with us first and then we will look and take deep thinking about that. So let's wait and see."

Wolves travel to face rock-bottom Brentford at Griffin Park today hoping to bounce back from last Saturday's defeat to home to Cardiff.

Dean Smith's Bees have only won one point from their opening four matches but Nuno believes they're a better team than their early league position suggests.

"I think it's a false position," he said. "When you look at their performances and the way they've been playing, the results haven't been good but their performances have been.

"If you look at the table it doesn't say what Brentford's team is."

A number of fringe players staked a claim for a first-team spot in the Southampton win.

Nuno said of his team selection: "It's difficult like always, it's always a tough job but it's my job. I always make my decisions based on thinking, on all the aspects of the opponent, based on really hard work from our coaches."