Wolves have no excuses ahead of congested fixture schedule insists Bruno Lage

Starting on Thursday Wolves will play five Premier League games in just 17 days until the end of February.

Not only is it a crowded schedule for Wolves' small squad to compete with, but all of the games are against teams around them in the league as they face Arsenal twice as well as Spurs, Leicester and West Ham.

But Lage has issued a rallying call to his players to 'find solutions' in the difficult run-in.

"For me, now it is about character and ambition," Lage said.

"We are going to play against teams that are there in that position and that's why I ask for the team to come and play.

"We won't use any excuses that we don't have that player or wingers – me and the players need to find the solutions to play against these strong teams and do a good performance to win the games.

"That's why I talk to the players about. We've come from a good two months of consistency and we are playing with personality. We scored six goals in three games and more goals in the FA Cup.

"February will be hard with a lot of games but we are here with character and ambition to find the best solutions and continue in this way."

Meanwhile, Lage says he trusts Ki-Jana Hoever and will need him in upcoming games, despite omitting him for the FA Cup clash on the weekend.

The right-wing-back has been back up to Nelson Semedo this season but was surprisingly not given any game time in the cup loss to Norwich on Saturday.

But when asked if the defender is frustrated at not playing, Lage said: "You could talk about him, Marcal, Cundle or Chem. When I look at this cup I look for the best players in the moment.

"I just changed John and the rest came from what they did in the last game.

"I trust a lot in Ki. Remember, he did that mistake against Liverpool and in the next game he played against Chelsea and played well, and Semedo was on the bench.

"Now it's about me finding the best solutions every time and you never know. We are playing games in the middle of the week and I have to take my decisions so the best players go to the pitch.

"It's now about them and how they're training to (get a chance to) play. The League Cup is different but the FA Cup and Premier League games for me are the same."