Injured Penrith hooker Kevin Kingston has warned his team to expect an ambush from a desperate Wests Tigers outfit on Sunday.

The Tigers enter the clash on a five-game NRL losing streak and in a tailspin after starting the season as premiership favourites.

“I expect a lot of energy, I think they’re going to come down and try and ambush us,” Kingston told AAP.

“They want to try and upset us on our own turf.”

But Penrith have an unwanted streak of their own – they’ve lost six consecutive home matches – and Kingston believes a win at Centrebet Stadium could spark a season-defining run.

“If we can win this one and go on a bit of a run we can make our season basically,” he said.

“But without looking too far ahead, we’ve just got to put in a consistent effort.”

Kingston is considered no chance for the clash after hyperextending his elbow on the final play of the Panthers’ shutout loss to Manly on Monday night, and is expected to be replaced by Nafe Seluini, with regular five-eighth Travis Burns taking over the bench utility role as Blake Austin fills in at No.6.

Despite going down 30-0 to the premiers, Kingston said that result would have no bearing on the way they play against the Tigers.

“We’re looking to put some points on the board this weekend, but (Manly and Tigers) are two different teams,” Kingston said.

“We were pretty devastated (after the Manly loss).”

In addition to Kingston’s injury, Penrith will also be without gun centre Michael Jennings (pec strain), and are still missing prop Tim Grant (calf), but they face a Tigers pack down on troops – including Gareth Ellis and Chris Heighington and prop Matt Groat (concussion), giving Penrith a decided advantage in the forwards.

It is an area they may look to exploit, and Kingston thinks they would be wise to do so.

“It will be a battle out there for the forwards and I think that’s how you want to play it,” he said.

“We want to be aggressive and make a statement.”