Fixtures
- Aston Villa Vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers – Sat, Mar 30th 2024, 17:30
At A Glance
The sprint to the finishing line begins on Saturday when Aston Villa welcome Wolves to Villa Park.
With the final international break of the season completed, Unai Emery’s squad can focus on their final nine Premier League matches.
Villa will be looking to continue their strong home record in the top flight (P14, W10, D1, L3) and maintain their place in the top four.
Opponents Wolves are also eyeing European football next season on the back of a strong recent run.
Four wins in their past six top flight tilts, including a 2-1 success against Fulham last time out in the league, have pushed Wolves into contention for a top seven finish.
Gary O’Neil will also be eager for a reaction from his players after they exited the FA Cup at the hands of Coventry City in their last outing.
Standout Stats
Aston Villa are without a win in six Premier League meetings against Wolves, drawing three and losing three.
Wolves have lost just one of their eight Premier League visits to Villa Park, drawing four and winning three.
Aston Villa have lost three of their past four league fixtures at Villa Park, as many as in Unai Emery’s first 23 home games in charge.
Wolves have won four of their past six Premier League games, losing the other two.
Villa’s tally of 17 top-flight wins this season is only one short of their total for 2022-23.
Gary O’Neil’s side have accrued 22 points since Christmas Eve, with only Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal faring better.
Villa can equal the club league record of conceding multiple goals in six consecutive home matches.
Wolves are unbeaten in the last 10 top-flight games in which they’ve opened the scoring, winning eight and drawing two.
Ollie Watkins has been directly involved in 26 Premier League goals this season, with 16 goals and 10 assists – one shy of Dwight Yorke’s club record of 17 goals and 10 assists in 1995-96.
Wolves have won three of their past five Premier League games against sides starting the day in the top five (D1, L1).
Leon Bailey has six goals and six assists in 13 top-flight appearances at Villa Park this season.
Wolves are the only side in Europe’s top five leagues yet to score a goal from outside the penalty area this season.
Head coach Unai Emery is winless in six previous Premier League clashes against Wolves, drawing four and losing two.
The Last Meeting
Pau Torres netted his first goal for the club as Aston Villa came from behind to claim a 1-1 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux in October.
Centre-back Torres connected with Ollie Watkins’ inch-perfect ball into the box to finish from six yards and level matters just two minutes after Hee-Chan Hwang’s opener for the hosts.
Mario Lemina was dismissed for Wanderers in injury time following a second bookable offence, before Nicolò Zaniolo and Ezri Konsa both went close to securing a late winner and Watkins headed against the base of a post with the last touch of the game.
Team News
Matty Cash will miss out after picking up an injury on international duty with Poland.
Jacob Ramsey will be assessed ahead of the game, while John McGinn serves the second of his three-match ban.
After missing the past six games, Matheus Cunha could be in line for a return to the Wolves squad.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Craig Dawson, Pedro Neto and Hwang Hee-chan are all unavailable.
The Boss
“They are a very, very competitive team. Their coach is doing a really good job. They play with personality in every match, facing different teams. Even against the top four or seven teams they were successful. Tomorrow is going to be very difficult because to impose our positioning, to impose our capacity is not easy because they are going to try to avoid it. How? We are trying to analyse and understand quickly on the pitch but, more or less, with a lot of duels. When they are with the ball they have good organisation to play in combination. We are ready to play tomorrow respecting them a lot.” – Unai Emery
