Wolverhampton Wanderers entertain local rivals Aston Villa looking for revenge after recently losing their Carabao Cup meeting. There should be some optimism of doing so, on account of a six-match unbeaten Premier League (PL) run (W2, D4). But Wolves have struggled to win games this campaign, drawing the highest number of games in Europe’s top-five leagues (D7), with the last six of those ending 1-1 after they conceded the first goal.
Molineux has been kind to Wolves since its 2017/18 PL promotion (W11, D7, L6), although they’ve won just one of their last five in the league (W1, D3, L1). They remain unbeaten this season when a pre-match PL favorite (W1, D3), after registering a 76.92% W/D record at home last season (W7, D3, L3) when also favored.
Aston Villa led table-toppers Liverpool until the 87th-minute in their previous game before losing 2-1. That, along with defeat at Manchester City, is Villa’s only losses in their last seven in all competitions (W4, D1) and highlights a trend of positive results either way, with only three of their last 26 league clashes ending in a draw.
Away form has been poor, however, with four defeats in five PL away contests this season (W1), although three of those came to teams that finished in the top-five last season. Much of the damage has been done in the second half as Villa are the only PL team not to have conceded a first-half away goal (GF:4), but have a negative -7 in the second period.
Players to watch: Raúl Jimenez has scored ten of his 17 PL goals for Wolves in home games (58.83%).
Villa has won three away games in all competitions this season and Jack Grealish scored in all three, with each coming in the second half.
Stat attack: The last four H2H contests saw the home side on the day triumph.
Wolves have scored only one first-half PL goal this season.
Villa has won only two of six PL games this season when scoring first (D1, L3).
Will not play
Boly W.
(Broken ankle)
Davis K.
(Thigh Injury)
Questionable
Gibbs-White M.
(Back Injury)
Grealish J.
(Calf Injury)
Jota
(Surgery)
Match Information
Referee: Taylor A. (Eng),
Venue: Molineux Stadium (Wolverhampton)