After turning attention to the cup in midweek, Wolves are back on the road this weekend as they make the short journey to Aston Villa in the Premier League, and wolves.co.uk provides a thorough preview of the latest derby meeting.
1 | Roll Call
Gary O’Neil rang the changes to his Wolves team for their midweek Carabao Cup visit to Brighton & Hove Albion with one eye on Saturday’s trip to Villa Park, as just Joao Gomes kept his place in midfield from the 11 who started against Newcastle United at Molineux last Sunday. Wolves face worries at left-back this weekend, with Toti missing both games so far this week, while Rayan Ait-Nouri also went off injured against the Magpies. Yerson Mosquera and Craig Dawson were both rested in midweek but should be straight back in at centre-back, but Sunday is too early for Boubacar Traore who is not expected to return from a knee injury until December. Goncalo Guedes found the net for a third time in two cup outings on Wednesday night, which could tempt O’Neil to give the Portuguese his first Premier League start of the season alongside Jorgen Strand Larsen and Matheus Cunha in attack.
Aston Villa are looking at making it three Premier League wins on the bounce when they host Wolves on Saturday afternoon, but having played Champions League football in midweek, Unai Emery might look to rotate his squad to keep legs fresh with a Carabao Cup clash at Wycombe Wanderers also on the horizon. After keeping their first clean sheet of the season against Young Boys on Tuesday night, Emi Martinez is expected to remain between the sticks, as are most of the side, with the exception of Ollie Watkins who came off injured in Switzerland, which could provide the opportunity for Jhon Duran – who already has three goals to his name – to start for the first time this season. Boubacar Kamara, Tyrone Mings and Matty Cash all remain out with knee and thigh injuries respectively.
2 | The Stat Pack
Goals
- Goncalo Guedes | 3
- Jhon Duran | 3
Assists
- Jorgen Strand Larsen | 2
- Ollie Watkins | 2
Biggest win
- Wolves 2-0 Burnley | August 2024
- Young Boys 0-3 Aston Villa | September 2024
Cards
- Joao Gomes | 2 yellows, 0 reds
- Amadou Onana | 2 yellows, 0 reds
Clean sheets
- Dan Bentley | 1
- Emiliano Martinez | 1
3 | Journey to Wednesday
Wolves are still searching for their first win of the Premier League season, despite coming close to the three points at home to Newcastle last weekend. After promising performances – with the exception of a second half collapse to Chelsea at Molineux – so far this season, Gary O’Neil’s side were unable to follow up a draw at Nottingham Forest with a win against the Magpies. Mario Lemina’s well-worked team goal put the Old Gold ahead, but two late long-range goals condemned Wolves to three defeats in their first four. The team looked to bounce back in midweek away to Brighton & Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup, but despite being by and far the better team in the second half, Wolves were unable to take their chances and saw their cup campaign come to an end.
Villa got their Champions League campaign underway on Tuesday night, and secured a comfortable win over Swiss outfit Young Boys to put themselves in a good position heading into matchday two and a trip to Munich in October. In the Premier League, Villa have made another good start and have lost just the once so far this season, matching Wolves’ result against Arsenal – a 2-0 defeat. However, victories over West Ham United and Leicester City, as well as a stunning late comeback from two goals down to snatch all three points at home to Everton last weekend see Emery’s side pushing towards the top four once again.
Thank you to everyone that travelled last night. Sticking together & refocusing for the weekend. 🐺 pic.twitter.com/vP5Y5cVc9b
— Tommy Doyle (@Tommy_Doyle8) September 19, 2024
4 | Stunning fightback at Villa Park
Wolves’ last three games at Villa Park have produced a mix bag of results, having gone down to a 2-0 loss last time out in March, before Daniel Podence’s goal secured a point back in 2022/23. But the Old Gold were victors the previous season, in the most dramatic of circumstances. Having found themselves two goals behind heading into the final 10 minutes, Romain Saiss halved the deficit, before Conor Coady popped up with an equaliser five minutes later. And as the game entered added time, Ruben Neves’ heavily deflected free-kick secured a turnaround for the ages and sent the away end into raptures.
Wolves | Sa, Semedo, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Marcal (Podence 74), Neves, Moutinho (Silva 74), Dendoncker, Hwang (Jimenez 88), Traore.
Villa | Martinez, Cash (Young 79), Konsa, Mings, Tuanzebe, Targett, Luiz (Nakamba 67), McGinn, Buendia (Ramsey 74), Watkins, Ings.
