Mick McCarthy brushed off the emphatic 4-1 defeat by Arsenal almost two weeks ago by insisting Wolves' Premier League future will not be decided by results against teams in the top six of the table.It's hard to argue with the rhetoric that is being trotted out by virtually every other manager at clubs facing a struggle to avoid relegation this season.
The rationale behind McCarthy's argument is that points taken from teams in the bottom half of the table are worth double. Wolves gain three and deprive a rival of three. Double whammy.
The old relegation six-pointer has been around since football cliches began and it is hard to find an argument, in purely mathematical terms, to counter McCarthy's theory.
Football's final analysis, in May, when everything is tallied up, is all about points won and lost. All easily quantifiable - but what about the variables.
There are plenty of those that influence the final points total. Injuries, suspensions, transfer market dealings and psychological welfare of the players.
McCarthy's mental resolve is clearly as hard as granite. It seems nothing can alter his inner equilibrium.
After all he is still proving his managerial qualities, which were so infamously doubted by Roy Keane seven years ago, while the Ipswich Town manager continues to discover it is much tougher on that side of the fence than he believed during the 2002 World Cup.
Yet, sadly for Wolves fans, McCarthy cannot get by with just on his own strength of will. He needs his players to have the same fortitude between their ears, which is why Saturday's trip to Chelsea is more important than McCarthy's original argument suggests.
Chelsea have scored 26 goals and conceded one so far at Stamford Bridge. They have won all 10 games and all the factors point to another emphatic victory for Carlo Ancelotti's side.
Another heavy defeat for Wolves, following on from Arsenal and that is where the psychological variables come into play.
If Didier Drogba and Co use McCarthy's team as target practice it is hard to know how much damage will be inflicted upon morale for a team that sits one place off the foot of the table with over a quarter of the season elapsed.
Even more crucially for Wolves, the Chelsea game prefaces what many supporters are already looking at as a key passage of the season when they return from Stamford Bridge.
It is not difficult to see why subsequent fixtures against Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers and Burnley are perceived as so important.
The frame of mind of McCarthy's players when they enter that three-game stretch is of paramount importance. Avoid heavy defeat against Chelsea andthat could set them up for a seven-point haul.
The opposite does not bear thinking about.
Especially when a similar run of games against opponents inhabiting the same environs, Portsmouth, West Ham United and Hull City brought the disappointing return of a solitary point earlier in the season.
Whatever the mathematical football equations that come into play this Saturday, the game at Chelsea has a greater significance than just three points for Wolves' Premier League fate.
