Aston Villa will take on winless Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League this Sunday with the aim of consolidating their position in the top four.
Villa moved to the upper reaches of the Premier League last weekend thanks to a win over Leeds United and three points against Wolves would keep them there.
Unai Emery’s team must be full of confidence, especially at home. Their great form at Villa Park continued in the Europa League on Thursday thanks to Donyell Malen’s brace against Young Boys.
Football deserves better than parasitic ownership
Remember Southampton last season? A team in total disarray, unable to buy a win and ultimately doomed to relegation by Halloween?
Those are Wolves now. I’m sure many Villa supporters enjoy it, but where Wolves go today, someone else goes tomorrow. Football is full of owners who do not have the interests of their club in mind. The abuse and neglect of Wolves is a shame.
I went to the Hawthorns on Wednesday to watch West Bromwich Albion against Birmingham City and ended up thinking about it the relative positions of the West Midlands clubs.
My premise was that Albion are just there, while Villa are near the top, Coventry City are flying, Birmingham are making a lot of noise and Walsall are pushing for promotion. Only Wolves’ headlines were the wrong kind.
They have two points in the Premier League and have changed managers. They already feel well behind where they were at this time last year, but unfortunately that’s just their direction of travel at the moment.
The people who make decisions about strategy, identity and recruitment at Molineux have a lot to answer for.
Villa team news
It’s all been good news for Villa recently on the injury front and there were no new concerns following Thursday night’s win over Young Boys.
Andrés García was named to the bench and Amadou Onana could start the match, so Villa’s injury list is unlikely to consist of just one player.
Tyrone Mings is out for the medium term and is not expected to return until the new year.
Villa predicted line-up against Wolves
Sunday’s Villa team essentially picks itself, I think. There’s no reason at all to mess with a full-strength defense apart from Mings, and both Emi Buendía and Morgan Rogers are surefire starters against Wolves.
I think Onana will be the man to miss in midfield, while Youri Tielemans and Boubacar Kamara play in a double pivot and John McGinn operates on the right.
With two games looming in the coming week and the fixtures starting to pile up, Emery could also leave Kamara on the bench and join Onana for what could be a blood-and-thunder home game despite the poor quality of the opposition.
I would choose Malen at the front and I think Emery will too. That probably means he won’t. But he should. There won’t be a better chance to suck it and see.
Where can you watch Villa v Wolves?
Villa’s home match against Wolves will be broadcast live Sky Sports Premier League in Great Britain.
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