Aston Villa host Wolves at Villa Park in a Midlands’ derby.
If Newcastle and Liverpool fail to win elsewhere, victory would see Villa go second until Sunday evening at minimum.
Wolves meanwhile can go as high as 15th with a win depending on results elsewhere.
Team News
Villa have no fresh injury concerns to report following their midweek Champions League win at Young Boys.
Matty Cash (hamstring), Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings (both knee) remain sidelined.
Wolves could welcome Toti Gomes back into contention after he missed their Carabao Cup exit at Brighton with a hamstring injury.
Rayan Ait-Nouri (ankle) and Yerson Mosquera (calf) are doubts for selection.
Bastien Meupiyou (unspecified), Boubacar Traore (knee), Sasa Kalajdzic and Enso Gonzalez (both ACL) remain sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host Wolves at Villa Park on Saturday 21 September at 3pm BST, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Villa have won one of their last seven league meetings against Wolves (W1, D3, L3).
- Wolves have lost one of their last five league visits to Villa Park (W2. D2, L1).
- Villa haven’t kept clean sheets in two consecutive league matches at home to Wolves since August 1978.
- Two of Jhon Duran’s three league goals for Villa this season were scored on his left foot.
- Craig Dawson and Toti Gomes have both made 10 clearances apiece – more than any other Wolves players.
Prediction
After a solid start to the season, Villa finally seem to have hit their groove with two impressive attacking displays, especially away to Young Boys in midweek where they didn’t put much wrong.
Wolves meanwhile will feel disappointed to have not taken Brighton to penalties in midweek, but they were outclassed quality wise in key phases plus it means that they can focus on the league alone in the next few months.
The fact that Villa Park is currently one of their enjoyable trips will offer another reason to bounce back, especially with Villa set to find out about the physical impact of playing three games in a week regularly.
I however do think that Unai Emery’s experience will be of huge help to Villa and now they’ve momentum, I do fancy them to scrape a win here.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 Wolves
Result: Aston Villa 3-1 Wolves
Leave a Reply