Aston Villa 3 (Watkins 73, Konsa 88, Duran 90+4) Wolves 1 (Cunha 25)
Wolves were once again on the wrong end of a second half fightback, this time at Villa Park, as Aston Villa ensured the Old Gold’s wait for a Premier League win this season goes on.
Matheus Cunha’s brilliant first half finish, in off the inside of the post from range, made it advantage Wolves until 73 minutes when Ollie Watkins’ strike deflected off the luckless Craig Dawson to restore parity.
The momentum swing did the damage for Gary O’Neil’s side, who, moments after Yerson Mosquera was stretched off, went behind to Ezri Konsa’s close range finish. The home win was then rounded off in injury time when Jhon Duran tapped home to ensure Wolves remain winless in the 2024/25 Premier League.
In terms of opening 45s, O’Neil couldn’t have asked for much more. Wolves felt their way into the game, controlling Villa and looking to spring into action on the counter, which led to two cornera which Mario Lemina connected with, but his audacious flick, followed by towering header, were both directly too close to Emiliano Martinez in the Villa goal.
Wolves found scoring from outside of the box so difficult last season, but not this. When Diego Carlos played a loose ball into the middle of the park, it triggered Cunha, who nipped in, glided past Amadou Onana and crashed a stunning low effort in off the inside of the post from the edge of the box in front of the Holte End.
O’Neil’s side had been impressive before the goal, but even better after it, and may have been a little frustrated not to add to that goal. After Jean-Ricner Bellegarde resurrected Lemina’s deep cross, Rayan Ait-Nouri connected well, but saw his deflected shot roll the wrong side of the post.
Jorgen Strand Larsen was next to threaten when he latched on to Mosquera’s clever ball around the corner, but he delayed his shot and fired too close to Martinez, while both Craig Dawson and Ait-Nouri had attempts late in the half blocked before Martinez was required.
Half-time | Aston Villa 0-1 Wolves
As you’d expect, during the second half Aston Villa were the dominant force and Wolves set about protecting their lead. Which they did for a long spell, with Mosquera hacking a Watkins header off the line, making sure Wolves were still ahead going into the final 20.
However, the England striker eventually found the equaliser when a ricochet off Lemina had Wolves in trouble, allowing Rogers to slip in Watkins, whose effort took a hefty deflection off Dawson, which took the ball over Johnstone.
The Old Gold then lost Yerson Mosquera to a serious-looking injury, and minutes after the Colombian had been stretchered off, Leon Bailey’s deep cross was turned between Johnstone’s legs at the back post by Konsa.
Wolves did their best to pick themselves up to go again, but it was Villa’s momentum which helped them kill the game off late in the day, as Ian Maatsen sent Rogers in down the left and he squared for Duran to tap into an open goal to complete Villa’s turnaround and leave Wolves winless once more.
Full-time | Aston Villa 3-1 Wolves
Villa | Martinez, Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne- (Maatsen 45), McGinn (Bailey 45), Onana (Barkley 62), Tielemans, Ramsey (Duran 62), Rogers, Watkins (Buendia 90).
Unused subs | Gauci, Nedeljkovic, Bogarde, Young.
Wolves | Johnstone, Semedo, Mosquera (Bueno 82), Dawson, Ait-Nouri, Andre, J Gomes (Doyle 82), Lemina, Bellegarde (R Gomes 71), Cunha, Strand Larsen (Guedes 65).
Unused subs | Sa, Doherty, Forbs, Sarabia, Hwang.
