Aston Villa 2 (Diaby 36, Konsa 65) Wolves 0
A goal either side of the break condemned Wolves to defeat on their travels as Aston Villa came out on top of the latest West Midlands derby.
Despite a spirited performance from a Wolves side who handed a Premier League debut to academy striker Leon Chiwome, it was the hosts who took the spoils at Villa Park as Moussa Diaby opened the scoring with a powerful effort just after the half hour mark, before Ezri Konsa’s mis-hit cross found its way over the goalline having clipped the post 30 minutes later.
Wolves started brightly at Villa Park, with Nelson Semedo and Pablo Sarabia having success down the right hand side, without really putting the claret and blue shirts under much pressure.
But it was the hosts who thought they had taken the lead inside the opening 10 minutes when Douglas Luiz lashed the ball into the roof of the net after the Wolves defenders were unable to clear the ball, but fortunately for O’Neil’s side, the offside flag was immediately raised, with Ollie Watkins mistiming his run behind Maximilian Kilman earlier in the build-up.
The biggest chance of the first half for the visitors came on the quarter-hour mark. Santiago Bueno’s dangerous cross into the Villa box found its way to an unmarked Rayan Ait-Nouri at the far post, and with just Emi Martinez to beat, the Algerian got his shot on target, but the former Wolves stopper was able to get his body in the way to turn it behind.
For the rest of the half, Wolves were limited to pot shots from distance, with Mario Lemina, Tommy Doyle and Sarabia all testing the gloves of Martinez, but never really testing the Argentinian goalkeeper.
Villa grew in confidence throughout the opening 45 minutes, and came close to opening the scoring through Watkins, as the England striker found space behind Kilman, and with just Sa to beat, he was only able to fire a shot into the side netting. Moments later, Pau Torres pulled a save from Sa as he got his head to a free-kick, but the Portuguese was more than equal to it.
But the hosts broke the deadlock before the break. Another free-kick into the Wolves box was not dealt with by the defence, and after the ball made its way to Diaby about 20 yards out from goal, the winger took a touch before lashing a shot down the centre of the Old Gold’s goal, with the players on the line unable to keep out the powerful effort.
Half-time | Aston Villa 1-0 Wolves
Villa came out looking the stronger side after the break, and had a chance almost immediately to double their advantage when Leon Bailey’s cross just missed the head of Diego Carlos at the far post, before Bailey fired well over the crossbar after the hosts caught Wolves out on the break.
Sarabia had an opportunity to get Wolves level on 52 minutes after Joao Gomes was fouled just outside the box having burst through the heart of the Villa midfield, but the Spaniard was unable to keep his free-kick down having got it up and over the wall.
Moments after Wolves had replaced Ait-Nouri with Hugo Bueno, a second Villa goal came from the Old Gold’s left. Konsa was played into space near Bueno, and after aiming a cross towards Johan Duran at the far post, the ball somehow sliced over Sa’s head and crossed the goalline after kissing the woodwork.
Villa almost added a third just minutes later, but Sa was able to get a big hand to deny Nicolo Zaniolo, before Wolves pushed late on to get back into the game after a raft of substitutions by O’Neil.
The best opportunity was from the head of Matt Doherty as the right wing-back was found in the centre of the Villa box by Hugo Bueno, but he just couldn’t keep the ball under the crossbar having beaten Martinez.
Two final chances fell Wolves’ way in added time, but they weren’t able to convert, as Lemina met Sarabia’s corner at the near post, but headed well wide of the goal, before Nathan Fraser was picked out by Doherty in the box, however the striker could only find the side netting from a tight angle.
Full-time | Aston Villa 2-0 Wolves
Aston Villa | Martinez, Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Moreno (Digne 63), Diaby (Iroegbunam 87), Luiz, Tielemans, Rogers (Zaniolo 63), Bailey (Kesler-Hayden 90+6), Watkins (Duran 46).
Unused subs | Olsen, Chambers, Lenglet, Kellyman.
Wolves | Sa, Semedo (Doherty 84), Kilman, S. Bueno, Toti, Ait-Nouri (H. Bueno 64), Gomes (Traore 84), M. Lemina, Doyle (Chirewa 70), Sarabia, Chiwome (Fraser 84).
Unused subs | Bentley, Barnett, N. Lemina, Holman.
Referee | Paul Tierney
