Fixtures
- Aston Villa Vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers – Sat, Sep 21st 2024, 15:00
The Premier League is back in full focus for Aston Villa on Saturday as Wolves make the short journey to Villa Park.
Excitement hit fever pitch among the club’s fanbase as Villa made their Champions League debut in midweek, dispatching BSC Young Boys 3-0 in Switzerland.
Victory in Europe added to what’s been a strong start to the domestic season for Unai Emery’s team following three wins from four league games.
Opponents Wolves have endured a more difficult beginning to their season, sitting 18th in the table with one point to their name.
Gary O’Neil’s team had looked on course to pick up a first league success last weekend before conceding two goals in five minutes against Newcastle United at Molineux, condemning them to a 2-1 defeat.
The Carabao Cup failed to lift their spirits on Wednesday night as they exited the competition at the hands of Brighton & Hove Albion.
Stats
Jhon Durán has scored the winning goal in all three of Aston Villa’s Premier League victories this season, with all three coming as a substitute. No player has scored four winning goals from the bench in a single campaign in Premier League history.
Ollie Watkins has been involved in seven goals in his last six Premier League home games for Aston Villa, scoring four and assisting three. Overall, he has 48 goal involvements at Villa Park (33 goals, 15 assists), second only to Gabriel Agbonlahor in the competition (49).
In the Premier League last season, only Bournemouth (65%) and Tottenham (65%) scored a higher share of their goals in the second half of games than Wolves (64% – 32/50). All four of Wolves’ strikes so far this season have come before half-time.
Wolves have conceded a league-high three Premier League goals from outside the box this season, including both strikes in their 2-1 defeat to Newcastle last time out.
Since the start of March, Wolves have lost more games than any other Premier League side (11). They’ve also won fewer games (2) and earned fewer points (9) than any other ever present side in that time
Aston Villa have won three of their four Premier League games this season, losing the other against Arsenal. Only in 1998-99, 2009-10 and 2020-21 have they won as many as four of their first five in a single campaign in the competition.
Wolves have won just one of their last 14 Premier League games (D3 L10) and are winless in seven (D1 L6) since a 2-1 win over Luton in April. It’s their longest run without a victory since a run of 12 between April and August 2022.
Between March and Christmas 2023, Aston Villa conceded just eight goals in 16 Premier League home games (0.5 per game), and never more than once in a match in that time. Since then, they’ve conceded 26 goals in 12 games at Villa Park (2.2 per game), conceding at least twice in 10 of those (including each of the last four)
Wolves have only lost one of their last five away league games against Aston Villa (D2 L2), though it was in this exact fixture last season (0-2).
Aston Villa beat Wolves 2-0 in their last league meeting in March last season – only in their first two such encounters in 2003-04 have they won consecutive Premier League games against them.
The Last Meeting
Aston Villa took local bragging rights with a comfortable Premier League victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Villa Park.
A goal in each half secured a first win against our Midlands rivals since December 2020, with a packed stadium revelling in a strong performance from the hosts.
After Emi Martínez had denied Rayan Aït Nouri with a marvellous save, Moussa Diaby lashed home the opening goal with 36 minutes on the clock.
Ezri Konsa capped a controlled second-half performance from his team when he chipped José Sá to double the lead just after the hour mark.
Team News
Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings have started training every day with the team as they edge closer to returning.
Ollie Watkins has been passed fit to play, but Jaden Philogene will miss out through injury.
Wolves have worries at left-back, with Toti and Rayan Aït Nouri struggling to be fit for the game.
Boubacar Traore remains out, but O’Neil has no other injury concerns.
Managers’ Pre-Match Thoughts
“My own experience here in the Premier League is every match is very difficult; playing away more and playing at home as well is very difficult. You have to respect every team. If you want to win, you have to focus on the match and be demanding yourself. And the first objective I have every match we are facing is respect. Good coach, good team, good players, very competitive. They beat away last year Chelsea, Tottenham, they played very well here, they competed very well. It’s the same coach, a lot of players are the same and they played very well in Nottingham, drawing two weeks ago. They played very well at home against Newcastle, even losing they deserved more. Tomorrow is going to be a very difficult match.” – Unai Emery
“They can be an emotional group, a lot of highs and lows, but they understand that now as well. It’s just trying to make sure that they stay really level and use their emotions correctly, because you need them. There are no robots in there, emotion can be helpful, and we need to use it this weekend. We need to use our frustration and the fact that we feel like maybe we’ve not got what we’ve deserved so far from what we’ve put in, and we’re really keen to use that to go and put it right.” – Gary O’Neil
