Wolves will welcome Aston Villa to the Molineux this Saturday for their 31st Round fixture of the 2021/22 Premier League season.
Venue: Molineux Stadium (Wolverhampton)
Key Statistics
Wolves no have lost four of their last six PL games (W2); as many as recorded in their 19 prior.
Only the top-three sides have conceded fewer PL goals than Wolves’ 26 this season.
Aston Villa have won as many away league games across their last five road trips (W3, L2) as they did in their first ten.
Steven Gerrard’s side is the only side across England’s top-five tiers and Europe’s top-five leagues yet to draw an away league game (W6, L9).
Phillipe Coutinho has seven-goal contributions in ten PL appearances for Villa (G4, A3).
Head to head
In 13 Premier League meetings between both sides, Wolves have four wins while Aston Villa have five wins (D4).
Latest performances in all competitions
Wolves: L-W-W-L-L
Aston Villa: L-L-W-W-W
Wolves
Wolverhampton Wanderers will look to get back to winning ways when they welcome fellow Midlanders Aston Villa to the Molineux this Saturday.
The hosts lost a Premier League (PL) game after being two goals ahead for the first time ever last time out when they were beaten 3-2 by Leeds United. The loss, which was their fourth defeat across their last six PL games, has cast a big shadow on their chances of finishing in the top seven places.
Bruno Lage’s men come into this tie sitting in eighth place, two points behind West Ham, who are sitting in seventh place.
Two weeks international would have given Large the time to reflect on what must be done to reignite his side’s fading hopes of a European finish
Meanwhile, for all their recent struggles, just the top-three sides have conceded fewer PL goals than Wolves’ 26 this season, which is something they must rediscover after that recent Leeds nightmare.
Irrespective of what happens this season though, Wolves must see this season as a success so far, with the Black Country side already picking up more points than they did in the entirety of 2020/21 with eight games to spare.
Possible Wolves starting line-up
Jose Sa; Max Kilman, Conor Coady, Romain Saiss, Fernando Marcal; Joao Moutinho, Leander Dendoncker, Rayan Ait-Nouri; Daniel Podence,Hwang Hee-chan , Pedro Neto.
Injured: Ruben Neves, Ki Jana Hoever
Doubtful: Nelson Semedo
Suspended: Raul Jimenez
Aston Villa
Aston Villa’s chances of finishing in the top seven took a big hit last time out when they were narrowly defeated by Champions League-chasing Arsenal.
The loss made it two losses in a row for Steven Gerrard’s side, making their three-game-winning run before then look like a thing of the past.
They will now look to get back to winning ways when they face their Black Country cousins. The visitors sit just one place, but also ten points, behind Wolves, but any European ambitions they had have been put on hold until next season.
A more realistic goal for the season will be a top-half finish. And considering that they have eight games to achieve that, they will fancy their chances.
However, for this fixture, vengeance is on the immediate agenda, after curiously losing the reverse fixture despite going two goals up.
Given that they have won as many away league games across their last five road trips (W3, L2) as they did in their first ten, they will be confident of avoiding a second losing H2H double in three seasons.
Possible Aston Villa starting line-up
Emi Martinez; Matty Cash, Callum Chambers, Tyrone Mings, Lucas Digne; John McGinn, David Luiz, Jacob Ramsey; Danny Ings, Ollie Watkins, Philippe Coutinho.
Injured: Marvelous Nakamba
Doubtful: Kortney Hause
Suspended: None
Prediction
Wolves 1-1 Aston Villa
