Paul Lambert keen to avoid Jonjo Shelvey drama

Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Paul Lambert has urged his players to "focus" on delivering a win when Newcastle United visit Molineux tomorrow night.

The match will mark the first time the Wolves team have come up against Magpies midfielder Jonjo Shelvey after he was found to have racially abused Romain Saiss in the reverse fixture last September.

The 24-year-old was issued with a five-game ban and a six-figure fine for the incident at St James's Park after an inquiry that saw Wolves players Matt Doherty, Dominic Iorfa and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson testify against Shelvey, and he is likely to be named in Rafael Benitez's starting XI tomorrow.

"I wasn't here, I know little bits of what happened but for me it's a game of football that we'll play to win," Lambert told the Express & Star. "I don't get too caught up in these things. What happened in the past has happened, I wasn't here and can only go on what people have told me.

"They were protecting their teammate, quite rightly so. Like I say I don't know what was said as such, in depth, but you would expect them to protect their teammate. And Romain's a really nice guy. The message would be to focus on the game, don't worry about anything else, just play your game as you have done. Just focus on the game."

Newcastle enter the match top of the Championship table, while Wolves sit in 18th.