Home sweet home. Aston Villa, whose unlikely surge into contention for Champions League qualification was built on their imperious record in front of their own supporters, regained that homely feeling to reclaim fourth place in the Premier League after Unai Emery recorded his first win over Wolves.
Goals from Moussa Diaby and Ezri Konsa allowed Villa, who had won only two of their previous six home games in all competitions, to overcome their West Midlands rivals’ bright start.
Tottenham Hotspur had briefly borrowed fourth place but Villa quickly restored their position. It might have been different if Rayan Aït-Nouri had scored from Wolves’ best chance of the game early on, but from the moment Diaby slammed home his goal, there looked to be only one winner.
Wolves’ record as the fourth best team since Christmas Eve – only Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool had accrued more than their 22 points coming into this game – is somewhat beguiling considering how stretched their squad is now looking.
Gary O’Neil was far from disheartened by his team’s performance. “The only thing I’m disappointed with is the result,” the Wolves manager said. “Performance-wise, there loads of positives. Even [with] the numbers – more shots, more possession, higher XG, away to Villa, with the issues we have – it’s an unbelievable effort from the players.
“I’m sure if you put Matheus Cunha, Pedro Neto, Channy [Hee-chan] Hwang, [Jean-Ricner] Bellegarde in to those attacking situations, we’d start to be turning those shots and that XG into actual goals.”
With Cunha still not ready to return after a hamstring injury, O’Neil’s lack of options at centre-forward yielded a Premier League debut for Leon Chiwome, who scored England Under-18s’ clinching goal against the Netherlands in midweek.
“Aston Villa are a good side, and created opportunities themselves of course,” O’Neil, who has 11 registered outfield players to select from, added. “Coming here and giving them a really good game, with not too many senior attackers, is a really good effort. We came up short against a team chasing Champions League football.”
Indeed, in keeping with their good record against top-five sides this season, Wolves were the better team for the first quarter of the game. They should have gone ahead and, unbeaten in the last 10 games when they have scored first, this would have been significant.
Santiago Bueno, deputising for the injured Craig Dawson, crossed from the right and the ball arrived at the feet of Aït-Nouri. The Algerian left-back, freed up to play to his maverick strengths, has been outstanding but, after scoring in Wolves’ last two games, his shot was saved by Emiliano Martínez’s feet. “Ninety-nine times out of a 100 in a Premier League game, that’s a goal,” O’Neil said.
The pressure was on Villa and Emery admitted his side were “very soft” in the opening stages. Their home form has been troublesome recently. Having started the Premier League season with eight successive wins here, they needed the confidence back at home as they face Manchester City, on Wednesday, and Arsenal in their next two away games.
Their leading goalscorer, Ollie Watkins, did not appear for the second half so could be a doubt for the City challenge. “Ollie was feeling his hamstring,” Emery reported. “He said he could continue but the doctor told us not to play with risk. We will check on him tomorrow but hopefully it is not too bad.”
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Nine minutes before the interval came the breakthrough. From Douglas Luiz’s straight free-kick down the left, Leon Bailey slammed in a first-time volleyed cross that deflected out for Diaby to power home his eighth goal of the season.
The relief rang around Villa Park. Sure enough, with their superior strength in depth, Emery’s side were able to introduce proven international quality rather than inexperienced tyros.
Midway through the second half the Holte End was in full song and the rest of the ground pumped up the volume. Tommy Doyle was dispossessed in midfield from where Nicolò Zaniolo gambolled forward before inviting Diaby to feed Konsa on the overlap. Although the newly capped England defender may have mishit his cross, it looped over José Sá and in off a post.
