McCarthy: Wolves not safe yet

And he stressed they could "have their backsides kicked" by Saturday's in-form visitors Everton unless they maintain the standards of recent games. McCarthy has seen his side move seven points clear of the bottom three after winning at Burnley and West Ham either side of a draw at Aston Villa in a trio of successive away games. Wolves have also scored seven goals during that productive spell in contrast to the difficulties they found in finding the net earlier in the campaign. But McCarthy is taking nothing for granted and was highly impressed when watching Everton win 2-0 against Manchester City at Eastlands on Wednesday. He said: "I kept banging on that our luck would change and that if we kept on playing the way we were playing then we would get points and it has turned out that way. "If you had asked me if we would get seven points before we played these last three games, I would have said no. "If someone had given us three points, a point a game, we would probably have all taken it. "The players have been terrific and I congratulate them on their performances in the same way as they get it in the ear when they don't play well. "But we still need some more points. We can't just take our foot off the gas and think we are in the Premier League for the foreseeable future." McCarthy added: "I get asked if the players will go off the rails and they generally find there is a size 11 boot wedged right in someone's rear if they do. "But they are not that sort. They are a good group of lads. "If Hull and Burnley win two games and we don't get anything out of Saturday and then go down to Arsenal, it could change around. We all have to be on our guard." McCarthy knows Wolves have to be at their best now that Everton have recovered from a lengthy list of injuries during the first half of the season. He said: "Our level of performances against Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United were similar to these last three games when we picked up points. "But we could get our backsides kicked against Everton because the Premier League is like that and we have to be conscious of that and cautious. "They had a lot of injuries when we drew 1-1 at Goodison Park earlier in the season. They've got (Mikel) Arteta back which makes a huge difference to any team. "David Moyes has managed to get through his injuries, has got his players back, and you can see what a good squad he has got and against Manchester City they looked a really solid team. "Everton are one of the best six teams in the league and we have to treat them as such and sustain the level of performance and work rate we showed on Tuesday." Record signing Kevin Doyle has echoed McCarthy's note of caution. He said: "We had a great win at West Ham but we can't relax too much. "It's important to stay focused because we've got seven games to go and, if we have a bad result in the next two weeks and the other teams win a couple of games, they could make it very difficult for us and then we'd back in the mire. "We've got Everton at home and Arsenal away the following week which will be two very tough games. But we want to stay on this unbeaten run." McCarthy has to decide whether to freshen up his side but has no new injury worries. Full-back Stephen Ward and midfielder Adlene Guedioura were rested for the Upton Park clash with McCarthy bringing George Elokobi and Michael Mancienne into the side.