At A Glance
Aston Villa are looking to do the double over Wolves for the first time in 17 years when the two sides meet at Villa Park on Saturday.
The Villans will also be looking to bounce back from a 1-0 loss to the Premier League’s bottom side Sheffield United in midweek.
That result left them ninth in the table, five points above Wolves with two games in hand.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s team had enjoyed a five-game unbeaten run before Manchester City handed them a 4-1 loss at the Etihad on Tuesday night.
Wanderers have won 15 of their 34 points on their travels this term, winning four, drawing three and losing seven of their 14 away games so far.
Standout Stats
Wolves won this exact fixture 1-0 last season – they haven’t won consecutive away league games against Aston Villa since a run of three between 1957 and 1960.
Aston Villa have won just one of their last six home league games against Wolves (D3 L2), having won six of their seven prior to that (L1).
Aston Villa have won all five of their Premier League home games when scoring first this season and lost all five at Villa Park when conceding first. The other game finished goalless, making Villa Park the only ground not to see a single point gained/lost from a losing/winning position this season.
Aston Villa have the highest win rate in Premier League games played on Saturdays this season (75% - 6/8), while Wolves (5 games) are one of two sides yet to win on Saturday in the top-flight so far this term (along with Sheffield United).
Only Sheffield United have conceded the first goal in more different Premier League games than Wolves this season (18). Indeed, Wolves have opened the scoring in just one of their last 17 league games, doing so in their 1-0 victory against Leeds last month.
Wolves have conceded 23 away goals in the Premier League this season, already two more than they did on the road in the whole of 2019-20.
Ollie Watkins has scored seven home Premier League goals this season – the last Aston Villa player to net more at Villa Park in a top-flight campaign was Christian Benteke in 2012-13 (11), while the last English player to do so was Darius Vassell in 2001-02 (8).
In their last game against Man City, Wolves defender Conor Coady scored with his first ever Premier League shot on target, in what was his 103rd appearance in the competition. It's the longest an outfield player has waited for their first shot on target in the Premier League since Paulo Ferreira (105 games between 2004 and 2010).
The Last Meeting
Anwar El Ghazi played the role of super sub when the sides met at Molineux in December.
The winger climbed off the bench and converted a stoppage time penalty as the Villans snatched all three points.
Douglas Luiz had received his marching orders minutes earlier in a game that was closely contested.
Team News
Aston Villa are definitely without Matty Cash, Wesley and Kortney Hause for the game.
At his Friday press conference, head coach Dean Smith said that he doesn’t expect Jack Grealish to play but that the decision had yet to be made.
Raul Jimenez is back in training as he continues his recovery from a fractured skull, with the weekend’s game coming too soon for him.
Daniel Podence and Fernando Marcal are Wolves’ only other injury absentees.
The Boss
“Wolves have been an improving team since they first lost Raul Jimenez. They’ve become more consistent and found a different way of playing without him. It will be a tough game. They got it back to 1-1 against Manchester City before Manchester City ran away with it in the last ten minutes. They’ve got very good players and I’ve got a lot of respect for the work they’ve done at Wolverhampton Wanderers.”
Dean Smith
