Wolverhampton Wanderers are the visitors in the League Cup in midweek before a League Two clash against Morecambe at Sixfields on Saturday and despite the attraction of a Premier League side coming to town it is the latter clash that looks more important at this early stage of the season.
Two home league games have yielded just one point for the Cobblers to date and they showed worrying signs of frailty at the back in the weekend defeat by Cheltenham.
Morecambe meanwhile have won both of their away league games in good style and will travel down in good spirits so, while a weakened Wolves team will provide Northampton with a good chance of repeating last season's League Cup heroics, manager Gary Johnson may prefer three points to get his side's promotion campaign up and running.
“We try to win all our home games but the next two matches have turned into huge games for us now,” midfielder Arron Davies told the Chronicle & Echo.
“We have put a bit of pressure on ourselves. We’ve had a half-decent start to the season and a couple of the results haven’t gone our way.
“It’s a result business so we’ve got to change that and I think the Wolves game is a good game for us to have, against quality opposition.
“We’re playing a Premier League side and it’s a chance to show what we’re capable of doing against a really good team.”