At A Glance
Aston Villa spring back into action after the international break when they host Wolves at Villa Park on Saturday.
Despite Ollie Watkins opening his account for the season last time out against Tottenham Hotspur, Dean Smith’s team went down 2-1 in London.
Villa have leant heavily on their home form to start the campaign, picking up seven of their ten points in B6.
In contrast, Wolves have won six of their nine points on the road following away day successes at Watford and Southampton.
Victory against the Saints preceded a 2-1 wjn against Newcastle United last time out, pushing 12th placed Wanderers to within a point of Villa.
Hwang Hee-Chan scored a brace in that game, and the South Korea striker is Wolves’ top scorer with three goals to his name.
Standout Stats
Aston Villa have won just one of their last seven home league games against Wolves (D4 L2), winning 4-1 in a Championship match in March 2018.
Wolves have won four of their last seven league meetings with Aston Villa (D1 L2), more than they had in their previous 27 against the Villans (W3 D10 L14).
Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last five Premier League home games (W3 D2), with the Villans last having a longer run without defeat at home in the top-flight between April and October 2011 (8 games).
Wolves have won three of their last four Premier League games (L1), as many as they had in their previous 16 in the competition. They’re looking for three consecutive top-flight wins for the first time since June 2020, the third game of which was a 1-0 victory at Villa Park.
Wolves are looking to secure three consecutive away league wins for the first time since June 2020, while the last time they won three in a row on the road without conceding in the top-flight was back in March 1960.
Wolves have scored six goals fewer than their expected goals total would suggest, giving them the biggest negative difference between goals scored (5) and xG (11) in the competition this term.
Both Aston Villa (8/10) and Wolves (4/5) have scored 80% of their Premier League goals this season in the second half of games, with only Crystal Palace netting a higher share after the interval (88%). However, Wolves have conceded fewer goals after half-time than any other Premier League side this term (1).
Aston Villa keeper Emiliano Martínez has kept a clean sheet in all three of his Premier League games against Wolves. They’re the side he’s started against the most in the competition with a 100% clean sheet record.
Wolves’ Trincão has the highest expected goals total of any player yet to score in the Premier League this season (2.4), with the Portuguese registering 15 shots without success so far (7 on target).
In his first five Premier League games this season, Wolves’ Raúl Jiménez had 14 shots and 15 chances created, but no goals or assists to his name. However, the Mexican has now been involved in each of Wolves’ last three league goals, scoring once (3 shots) and assisting twice (4 chances created).
The Last Meeting
Despite the frame of the goal being struck three times, Villa and Wolves played out a 0-0 draw at Villa Park back in March.
Ollie Watkins and Ezri Konsa hit the crossbar for the hosts as they dominated the first half before Wanderers upped their game after the break.
Conor Coady hit the post with a header and Romain Saiss missed a golden chance on the follow-up.
Team News
Dean Smith confirmed that Leon Bailey will miss the game against Wolves, while Bertrand Traore’s thigh injury will be assessed.
Keinan Davis and Morgan Sanson are back in training in a boost for Smith, while Villa’s cast of internationals will be assessed after their midweek exertions for their countries.
Bruno Lage will be without long-term injuries Jonny Otto, Pedro Neto and Yerson Mosquera.
Francisco Trincao will also miss Saturday's game after testing positive for Covid-19.
The Boss
“If you look at the start of the season, I thought their performances didn’t get the results that they deserved. They’ve got results in the last couple of games when it’s probably been tighter games than the ones before. They’ve got good players, a good coach and a really good system in how they play. They’ve got good balance throughout the team and we certainly know their threats.”
Dean Smith
