Bruno Lage targets January moves to improve Wolve’s squad

Only three senior players are now available to fit Lage's preferred five-defender configuration at center-back, which is why he has identified that position as the one most in need of reinforcements.

and

are both out with injuries, thus Lage must rely on

,

, and

to fill up the gaps.

"I'm very happy with Conor, Saiss, and Max, because they are doing very well,"

Lage said on Friday ahead of Monday's clash with

.

"I pray every training and every game that the guys don't have any injury because we play with three center-backs and I just have those three.

"We need one, we need one center-back."

, who are eighth in the table, have been very good at defense this season. They have only conceded 14 goals in 18 games, which is only two more than league-leaders

and the same number as second-placed

.

Lage's team, on the other hand, has struggled at the other end of the field, with their total of 13 goals ranking them as the second-lowest in the league.

"I think also we can find one more winger, a different striker, so we have two or three situations we can improve to manage better our squad."

Lage admits that even his players are unsure of their level of preparation for the match against Manchester United, which will be their first Premier League encounter since drawing 0-0 with Chelsea on December 19.

The squad has been dealing with a coronavirus crisis, which prompted the team to postpone their trip to Arsenal on Tuesday night.

It occurred after Watford's visit to the Emirates Stadium on Boxing Day was postponed because the Hornets were unable to field a team due to the virus.

"After 10 days without playing, in your mind, to be ready to play is difficult,"

Lage said.

"I was talking with a player and I asked 'are you ready to play?'

"He said: 'I really don't know'. After 10 days without playing and training you are slow to take the right decisions.

"If you take one more second to decide then the other team come and press. They need to continue to train and adapt as soon as possible.

"They are coming (back), that is why the next days will be important to understand which players are fit to play.

"There is nothing new but now we need to understand if the players have time to recover and are fit to play.

"We have two more days to understand which players are fit and ready to play this important game.

"We don't have many cases but we have a small squad, (if) four or five players (have Covid) and then afterwards we don't have players to play."

Follow

for the