Aston Villa vs. Wolves
Venue: Villa Park
Kick off: 6:30PM
Both Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers will both be looking to bounce back from defeats when they lock horns at Villa Park in the Premier League this evening.
Villa will enter the contest off the back of a surprise 1-0 defeat to bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United, while Wolves suffered a 4-1 loss to runaway leaders Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
Villa’s top-six hopes took a hit on Wednesday as they went down 1-0 at Sheffield United, with David McGoldrick’s first-half effort proving to be the difference between the two sides at Bramall Lane.
A total of 39 points from 25 matches has left Dean Smith’s side in ninth position in the table, level on points with eighth-placed Tottenham Hotspur and four points behind sixth-placed Liverpool, with a game in hand on the Reds, although the gap could be more by the time that the home side take to the field for this match.
Villa have won 12 league games this season, which is the same as Chelsea and Liverpool ahead of Thursday’s fixtures, but they have lost 10 times, which is high considering their position in the table.
Smith’s team will now be looking for back-to-back wins against Wolves and Newcastle United ahead of a home game with Tottenham on March 21, and it will be fascinating to see whether they are capable of finishing in a potential Europa League spot, which would represent an excellent season.
Villa, who have won five, drawn one and lost five of their home 11 league games this term, recorded a 1-0 victory when they travelled to Molineux for the reverse game back in December.
Wolves, meanwhile, will enter today’s contest off the back of a 4-1 defeat at Man City; the two sides were actually level heading into the final 10 minutes, but Pep Guardiola’s side scored three times in the latter stages at the Etihad Stadium to continue their sensational winning run.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have only lost one of their last six in the league – beating Southampton and Leeds United in two of their last four – while they drew 1-1 with Newcastle United last weekend.
Wolves have thus far not been able to challenge for a Europa League spot this season, but they are an improving side and currently sit just five points behind Villa, although Smith’s side have two games in hand over their opponents here.
The 2017-18 Championship winners have also found it difficult on their travels this season, winning just four of their 14 matches and suffering seven defeats; that said, they recorded a 1-0 win at Villa Park when they travelled to Villa at the end of the 2019-20 campaign.
Aston Villa possible XI: Martinez, Elmohamady, Konsa, Mings, Targett, Luiz, McGinn, Traore, Barkley, El Ghazi, Watkins.
Wolves possible XI: Patricio, Dendoncker, Coady, Saiss, Semedo, Neves, Moutinho, Jonny; Traore, Willian Jose, Neto.