Wolves have been boosted by the news that Emmanuel Frimpong should return to training at the end of this week despite suffering what appeared to be a serious eye injury during Saturday's loss to Aston Villa.

Frimpong was accidentally caught by the boot of Villa's Stilian Petrov as he attempted a diving header. The on-loan Arsenal player was examined in hospital on both Saturday and Sunday with doctors satisfied no serious damage has been done.

In a statement, Wolves said: "He is now recovering before returning to see a specialist on Thursday and hopefully being given the go-ahead to train again ahead of Tuesday's Barclays Premier League fixture with Liverpool."

Mick McCarthy, the Wolves manager, added: "I think Manny will be fine. He's off for a couple of days but was at the hospital again yesterday with the doctor, and will see a specialist on Thursday, and I expect him to train on Friday.

"I haven't seen him but spoke to him yesterday and spoke to [doctor] Matt Perry and there is no damage to his eye. He's got a bruised face and that will be checked out on Thursday to make sure it's OK."

Eight minutes of stoppage time had to be added to Villa's visit to Molineux after Frimpong underwent extensive treatment on account of the second-half incident. The 20-year-old is on a temporary deal from Arsenal until the end of this season.

McCarthy, meanwhile, remains defiant amid mounting speculation he is on the verge of being sacked. Bookmakers now made the ex-Ireland international as odds-on favourite to be the next Premier League manager to leave his job.

McCarthy said: "The biggest reason as to how I cope is that I don't listen to the backdrop of what fans are saying. I do not go around in a glass cabinet – I am fully aware of what is going on.

"If you listen to it, you would go off your head anyway. I just make sure I get on with it with Terry Connor [assistant manager], Pat Mountain [goalkeeping coach] and Steve Weaver [development coach] and we try to find a result.

"It is a results business but performances have been very good. We have played very well in recent weeks and I cannot question the performances at all. I would not have done anything differently against Chelsea and Tottenham and I could not have done anything to make us any better."