Prediction League - Aston Villa

[MichiganWolf]

Wolves welcome rivals Aston Villa to Molineux this weekend. Villa are having a strong start to the season with 15 points from 7 matches and only 3 points from the top. Each game this season, except for the Chelsea match, have been a blowout either way. 5-1 loss to Newcastle in the opener and a 3-0 loss to Liverpool just before the international break. They have 5 victories and 4 of them have been by 2+ goals. They will have a Europa Conference match on Thursday, so some squad rotation should occur. They've scored 17 goals already this season, with 4 players with 2, one with 3 and Ollie Watkins with 4 (3 this past weekend against Brighton). They've conceded 11 goals, but 8 of those are between the two aforementioned matches. Wolves have not lost to Villa since 2020, having drawn twice and won three times in the five matches since. But this Villa squad seems to be a high quality squad and I expect Wolves to have a letdown after the big City win.

Wolves 1-2 Villa

Neto


1) Woking88 - 7
1) GrizzledWolf - 7
1) theplater - 7
4) MichiganWolf - 5
5) GreavseyWolf - 3
6) baggins - 2
7) abbobrom - 1

[Woking88]

Wolves 1-2 Villa

Hwang

[abbobrom]

Wolves 2 Villa 1
Dawson

[baggins]

Wolves 2 - Villa 3 Cunha

[Greavseywolf]

wolves 0 villa 2

[theplater]

Wolves 1-1 Villa (Neto)

[GrizzledWolf]

Wolves 2 - Villa 2 (Cunha)

[Greavseywolf]

vid..brief highlights....12 minutes of extra time and another red card for wulfies;
looks like we were hanging ......take the point gladly

[nortonwolf]

vid..brief highlights....12 minutes of extra time and another red card for wulfies;
looks like we were hanging ......take the point gladly

I was there and it was a good performance against a top 5 side Greavsey, we shared possession and had three shots on target compared to their four. Both sides wanted to sit back and hit the other on the break so it was a bit of a stalemate really.

The highlights are misleading they don't even include the chance Neto blazed over the bar from 8 yards out second half which should've been a goal.

GON is doing better than I thought, his decision to revert to three centre halves is spot on given Dawson and Kilman's lack of pace, and the squad seem to respect and like him. I fear for us if Neto gets injured though as we're still so goal shy, his assists are key!

Super Mario got his 5th yellow of the season (one game suspension) and was red carded (one game suspension), does he get a one or two game suspension!?

Kalajdzic did well when he came on some nice linking play and set up Neto's second half chance, promising for when he's fully fit.

[abbobrom]

It's a long time since I have been at a game with so many stops and starts. Premiership referees appear to be blowing for the slightest touch, and awarding cards for tackles that would not turn a head in the Championship.

Villa, as you would expect from their lofty position in the league, started well and controlled the first 15 to twenty minutes. Wolves eventually started to match them and there appeared to be very little between the sides. There was little goalmouth action apart from a couple of smart saves from Sa.

The stats show that the visitors had more of the possession, but much of it was in the middle third of the playing surface. Wolves were quite happy to let them have the ball, while Villa often had a line of six across the back. Obviously concerned about our pace up front. The referee was getting stick from both sets of supporters as he issued several yellow cards. However, he seemed quite happy to let McGuinn wrestle Dawson to the floor as the Wolves man moved forward for corners.

A break from Neto down the right saw him pick out Hwang who had sprinted into the area, and score for the fifth game in a row. As has been written many times, sides are very vulnerable after scoring and so it proved again. A dubious free kick for the visitors, saw a cleared cross returned to the back post, for the Villa no 14 to ghost in and turn the ball into the net.

This equaliser opened the game up and Wolves should have sown it up when a superb cross field ball from Kalajdzic was met full tilt by Neto who blazed over the bar. Several players from both sides were milking minor contacts as if they had been shot, and several substitutions were made. Troare made an immediate impact and Wolves were looking for a winner. As the clock ticked towards ninety minutes Lemina was shown a second yellow and Villa spilled forward in a valiant attempt to steal all three points. Doc was lucky to get away with a touch on Watkiss before the Villa man hit the foot of the post with a header as thev final whistle went.

Not the best game of football but it was exciting, and both sides would have been gutted to loose the match.

A break again now before the trip to Bournemouth. I suppose we should be happy with five points from the last three games although the non penalty at Luton still hurts.