Aston Villa welcome struggling Wolves to Villa Park in a Midlands derby.
Victory would see Villa go 11th in the table if Crystal Palace lose elsewhere, whilst Wolves could climb out of the relegation zone with a win if results elsewhere swing in their favour.
Team News
Douglas Luiz is a doubt for Aston Villa after he suffered an ankle injury during their New Year’s Day win at Tottenham.
John McGinn (hamstring) is also doubtful but Diego Carlos (Achilles) and Jacob Ramsey (hamstring) both remain absent.
Wolves could hand forward, Matheus Cunha his debut since joining on loan from Atletico Madrid on New Year’s Day.
Chiquinho, Sasa Kalajdzic (both knee) and Pedro Neto (ankle) remain ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Aston Villa have claimed just four points from their last six league meetings against Wolves (W1, D1, L4).
- Wolves have avoided defeat in four of their last five visits to Villa Park (W2, D2, L1).
- Both teams have scored from four penalty kicks in total, with Villa scoring all three of their spot-kicks to Wolves’ one penalty.
- Five of Villa’s eight league goals under Unai Emery have been scored after half-time.
- Wolves have conceded first in two of their last three away games (W1, D1, L1), although they did take the lead in a 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace in October.
Prediction
Following a lacklustre defensive effort in their Boxing Day defeat to Liverpool, Villa certainly looked much more solid against a sluggish Tottenham on New Year’s Day, in which they looked more energetic yet organised in their end product which paid off with two well-earned goals.
Wolves meanwhile were wasteful with their own chances in their defeat against Manchester United amidst sloppy defending, so there will need to be huge improvement here if they’re to get any result to boost their survival hopes.
One positive though is that Wolves have fared well in recent visits to Villa Park and Matheus Cunha will hopefully add something up front, otherwise I feel that Villa will have too much if they can deliver like they did at Spurs.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 Wolves
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