Aston Villa Vs Wolves Preview

We found ourselves similarly placed in the first season of Bruno Lage.

Favourably positioned in the league coming around the final bend, but then an agonising late defeat to Arsenal and a couple of injuries to key players left a threadbare squad crawling to the finish.

The parallels are clear and we just have to hope that Coventry wasn’t Gary’s Arsenal moment and there are still a few good times to be enjoyed between now and the end of May.

There are more winnable games than this one to come, but the Premier League is so cutthroat, every point really is a prisoner while our options in attack remain limited at best.

We’ve performed well at Villa Park since coming back into the Premier League and are undefeated in the last four visits, but this will be the biggest test.

Villa

It’s going right to the wire in the race for the Champions League and with fifth place potentially getting it done, our neighbours have a great chance.

They still have to play City, Arsenal and Liverpool though so will be looking at all the other games – including this one – as must win.

Having been taken apart by Spurs a few weeks back they will have been buoyed by seeing their closest rivals follow that up with their own catastrophic loss to Fulham to underline the fact it’s anyone’s game.

With Spurs still having a game in hand and the marginally better run in, I would still lean slightly more towards them for fourth but I don’t see Man Utd having enough to trouble either of the sides for fifth.

Bringing it back to tomorrow, John McGinn is suspended and that is a big positive for Wolves. He’s an important component of their team and a player I’ve always rated highly.

Matty Cash also suffered an injury on international duty and will likely miss out but Jacob Ramsey could be back to swell the ranks.

Wolves

It doesn’t look like we’re getting any key players back for tomorrow with Gary ruling Dawson and Bellegarde out.

Hwang is a few weeks off and Neto is all but done for the season so that only leaves Matheus Cunha. If he is involved, you’d imagine they’ll be using him cautiously as the only senior forward we have available. Maybe some minutes off the bench?

That would leave the team we saw against Coventry almost certain to start again. But with the emphasis on Villa to attack, that might suit is better if we can seize on opportunities to counter.

Predictions

Well done to Shrewdsimon, Steppenwolfe, Dek, Happy Claptrap, Steady Eddie, Rich, WOLFSTROKER, West Parkian, Pauluswolf, Timberwolf, basherbaz, CHEESEBURGER OF DEATH and winchcombe wolf who all correctly predicted the 2-1 win over Fulham many weeks back before the international break and cup heartbreak.

I struggle to see us getting anything tomorrow. We’re not airtight defensively and without any sort of attack, it’s hard to envisage us living with a good Villa team. They’ve got a few out and that’s handy, but retain good options in all areas of the pitch. I’ll go 3-1 Villa and hope for a pleasant surprise.

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Up The Wolves!