Considering Wolves’ woes in front of goal so far this season, the last thing Julen Lopetegui will have wanted to see on Saturday afternoon was Diego Costa forced off with a knee injury.

Although the Spaniard is yet to score in Wolves colours, he has featured on 16 occasions this season and can certainly be trusted to give opposition defenders a hard time, so is clearly still a valued member of Lopetegui’s squad.

While Saturday’s 1-0 win against Spurs moved the Old Gold up to 13th in the Premier League, they are still ranked as the lowest scorers in the division, and a return of 19 goals in 26 top-flight fixtures is nowhere near good enough.

The Spanish manager has also been without summer signing Sasa Kalajdzic throughout his time at Molineux, and given the apparent severity of Costa’s injury, it now seems as if he will have to cope with Matheus Cunha and Raul Jimenez for the remainder of the campaign.

Who could replace Costa at Wolves?

For Jimenez, it could be a chance to rescue his career at Molineux and win back the support of the fans, who perhaps turned against the Mexico international when he travelled to the World Cup in Qatar last year, despite injury problems keeping him out of Wolves’ side for the months prior.

While he is still without a goal in the Premier League this term, his recent performances have been good, as he had a direct hand in the goals against Fulham and Spurs, which emphasises the intelligence that the £100k-per-week striker can add in the final third for Wolves.

Lopetegui praised the 31-year-old’s impact from the bench in the 1-0 win yesterday, saying:

“Above all, Raul Jimenez has played a fantastic match in my opinion. It’s good news for him and for us.“He didn’t score but he was very important in a lot of facets of the play.“It’s important. Sometimes we analyse the forwards for the goals that they score but they have a lot to offer to the team. I have to review the match, but in my opinion, he has made a very good match.”With Matheus Cunha also failing to fire since his arrival from Atletico Madrid – failing to score – Costa’s injury represents a golden chance for the once “sensational” Jimenez, in the words of Conor Coady, to rediscover his best form at Molineux.If he can get the proverbial monkey off his back and find the net in the top flight, while also continuing to add a creative threat in the final third, then he could still be a massive player for Wolves in their fight for survival.