It’s a battle of the Premier League’s West Midlands representatives at the weekend and wolves.co.uk provides the preview ahead of Wolves against Aston Villa at Molineux.
# Inside both camps
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde sits out the last of his three-match ban for the dismissal against Luton Town, meaning he’ll return to the fore after the international weekend. Gary O’Neil is boosted by the return of Tommy Doyle however, with the midfielder unable to face his parent club Manchester City last weekend. The head coach opted for a back three against City, with Toti successfully coming into the defence, and now he must decide if to stick or twist. Should he revert back to a four, the likes of Doyle, Boubacar Traore and Pablo Sarabia are likely to come into contention as an extra midfield option. In Hee Chan Hwang and Pedro Neto, O’Neil has two in-form attackers, with Neto being directly involved in goals for the past five Premier League games and Hwang up to five goals for the season.
Villa boss Unai Emery will be sweating on the fitness of Moussa Diaby and Boubacar Kamara, who missed training this week and weren’t fit enough to face Zrinjski Mostar in the Europa Conference League on Thursday. Both have been regulars in the Premier League eleven for Villa and aren’t expected to be out for an extended period of time. Leon Bailey did return in the week, so will be fit for the trip to Molineux. Alex Moreno is likely to return after the international break, but Emiliano Buendia and Tyrone Mings are set for the full season on the sidelines with serious knee injuries. For Villa, they’ll look to Ollie Watkins, recently recalled to the England squad, to continue his good form, having scored four times in the last two Premier League matches.
#2 Coming into it
Wolves head into the clash on the back of a confidence-boosting victory over Manchester City. Hwang scored the winner, after Ruben Dias’ earlier own goal was cancelled out by Julian Alvarez. The win took Wolves on to seven points for the season and got the Old Gold off the mark at Molineux too. Now, the aim will be to record back-to-back victories as Villa make the short trip across the West Midlands.
Wolves’ last three | W 2-1 Man City (H) – D 1-1 Luton (A) – L 3-1 Liverpool (H)
Villa needed a last-minute winner from John McGinn to defeat Zrinjski Mostar in midweek, after Emery rang the changes. In the Premier League, Villa hit Brighton & Hove Albion for six, thanks in large part to a Watkins hat-trick. That win was Villa’s third on the spin, after Emery’s side won at Chelsea and beat Crystal Palace at Villa Park the previous week. Villa are up to fifth after five wins in seven matches so far in the league.
Villa’s last three | W 6-1 Brighton (H) | W 1-0 Chelsea (A) | W 3-1 Crystal Palace (H)
#3 Since last time
Last year’s fixture look place just five months ago, at the business end of the season, when Wolves prevailed. The Old Gold were able banish any lingering relegation fears thanks to Toti’s first goal of the club, as he rose highest to head home a Ruben Neves corner. The then captain is one of three starters that day no longer at the club, with Matheus Nunes and Diego Costa moving on since. The outgoing Nathan Collins, Adama Traore and Joao Moutinho also came off the bench. It was a third Molineux win on the spin for the Old Gold, which did the trick in the battle for survival.
Wolves | Sa, Semedo, Dawson, Kilman, Toti, Lemina, Neves, Nunes, Neto, Cunha, Costa.
The victory felt damaging for Villa’s European hopes at the time, but Emery’s side were able to recover and pip Tottenham Hotspur to seventh spot. From that starting eleven, only veteran Ashley Young has departed the club, however Mings and Buendia won’t feature again this season. Villa arguably had the better chances and both Buendia and Watkins called Jose Sa into action, but they never recovered from Toti’s early header. Come full-time, Villa were eighth, three points behind Spurs, but results in the final three ensured European football returned to Villa Park.
Villa | Martinez, Young, Konsa, Mings, Moreno, McGinn, Luiz, Traore, Ramsey, Buendia, Watkins.
Toti with the winner the last time we faced Villa.#WOLAVL | @MNEGlobal pic.twitter.com/rL2nTdl9IZ
— Wolves (@Wolves) October 5, 2023
#4 In the media
BBC Sport’s Phil Cartwright backs Hwang to continue his upward trajectory at Molineux.
“Hee Chan Hwang’s winner against the Premier League and European champions was the exclamation point to the Wolves forward's superb scoring start to the season. Turn the clock back to August 2022 and Hwang looked from the outside as a player low in confidence. But a last-gasp winner to send South Korea through to the World Cup knockout phase in Qatar started the upward curve.
“Now he is one of the top scorers in the fledgling Premier League campaign and is arguably one of the first names on Gary O'Neil's team sheet at present. You will struggle to find a better finisher at the club and he often finds himself in the right place at the right time when opportunities present themselves. Wolves have not had a player score more than six league goals in a campaign in any of the past three seasons, but Hwang already has four after seven games and will surely be the man to end that statistic.”
Matthew Howarth of BBC Sport says the Villa couldn’t have responded better to their Carabao Cup loss to Everton.
“Aston Villa slipped to their first home defeat since February in the Carabao Cup, but Unai Emery could hardly have wished for a better response from his side. The home side were sharper to the ball and stronger in the tackle against high-flying Brighton, whose vulnerability on the counter-attack was repeatedly exposed by their ruthless hosts.
“Ollie Watkins was the star of the show, becoming the first Villa player to score multiple hat-tricks in a single season since Andy Gray in 1976/77. The forward's all-round display was matched only by John McGinn, who delivered a tireless performance in midfield and set up the 27-year-old for his third of the game. This was Villa's 10th home league win in a row - their best run since registering 13 home league victories in succession 40 years ago.”
