Ben Fisher
At the end of the season, how costly might this untimely slip prove for Aston Villa? Judging by the way Unai Emery fumed on the touchline, this defeat by near neighbours Wolves will hurt for a while yet and, significantly, it could have major implications on their hopes of returning to the Champions League.
Read Ben Fisher’s match report in full here:
Key events
Ok, that’s it from me. Thanks for all your emails and following along. A big weekend of live sport on these pages, enjoy.
Wolves keeper Jose Sá has been speaking to Sky Sports:
It was a very good performance from every single player. Villa did well but our fans deserve this win. It means a lot to them because it is a derby. It was great to give them this win tonight.
We have a lot of strong character and we will keep fighting game by game and see what happens. From the whole of the team, we defended and attacked well. A clean sheet is good for everyone. We will keep fighting.
Even today I have said we should have played like this from the beginning [of the season], but we will keep fighting.
Ben Fisher
At the end of the season, how costly might this untimely slip prove for Aston Villa? Judging by the way Unai Emery fumed on the touchline, this defeat by near neighbours Wolves will hurt for a while yet and, significantly, it could have major implications on their hopes of returning to the Champions League.
Read Ben Fisher’s match report in full here:
Edwards was bouncing between all four corners of the ground at full-time, even thanking a steward for his efforts. A happy chap.
Joshua Keeling agrees. He’s emailed in:
He won’t get much credit, because Wolves are doomed, and they have been for months, but Rob Edwards has quietly done a decent job at Wolves. They are now competitive in most games, and if he’d been there for the season, they wouldn’t be safe, but they’d be in ‘two out of these four will go down’ conversation with Spurs, Forest, and West Ham.
You have to say, credit to Wolves. They are surely doomed but they showed up tonight and even if they don’t survive, it’s performances like that will offer hope for next season.
Full-time: Wolves 2-0 Aston Villa
Villa’s miserable run at Molineux continues and Wolves have surpassed Derby’s record low points tally, so that record lives another season. Manchester United can overtake Villa with a win this weekend.
Goal! Wolves 2-0 Aston Villa (Rodrigo Gomes 90+7 min)
Hit on the break! That’s excellent from Mané as he leads a three on three counter and finds the right pass. João Gomes sees his shot blocked but it falls to Rodrigo Gomes and he finds the net.
90+6 min Off the line! Cash winds up a long throw from the right and Maatsen’s mis-hit shot comes to Onana. He has to score but Sá gets a hand on it and Mosquera clears off the line.
90+4 min Alysson can’t keep it in play on the left and his shoulders drop. Villa haven’t really threatened and that sums it up.
90+3 min All four Gomes are on for Wolves.
90+3 min Cash is booked for a trip on Mané as the youngster looks to break. That’ll cost Villa a few more seconds. Armstrong goes off (slowly) and is replaced by Rodrigo Gomes.
90+1 min Decent Wolves break lead by Arokodare that ends in a blocked Armstrong shot.
90 min The board goes up and it’s seven minutes of added time.
89 min Tchatchoua, who has been fantastic this half, makes a great tackle on Maatsen to stop a promising attack and then wins a free-kick of his own. Angel Gomes is coming on for André.
88 min Tchatchoua get over to block another Villa cross and it comes back off Maatsen. Cheers from the home fans.
85 min Maatsen drives in a low cross and Santi Bueno gets across Ambraham to block his shot. Corner, but should it have been? Last touch was off the striker. Fortunately it comes to nothing. Brazilian forward Alysson is on for Watkins. Not his night at all.
83 min João Gomes has really got about this half, sometimes illegally. He nips in in midfield to pinch it (legally) from Onana. The home fans like it.
81 min Someone has put a tocket up Tchatchoua. Another dart down the right results in a dangerous cross and a half-chance for Mané. Tolu Arokodare has come on for Bellegarde.
79 min Somehow this has become and end-to-end contest. Villa, and perhaps more suprisingly Wolves, committing men going forward. Rogers has come to life a bit and twice creates chances with driving runs towards the byline, both times Wolves clear.
76 min Smart save from Sá as Maatsen shoots from close range. It was a lovely reverse pass from Barkley to find his teammate in space in the box but the snapshot was straight at the Wolves keeper. That’s Villa’s best effort in a long time.
74 min Bailey goes into the book for a tug on Hugo Bueno. Clever stuff from the Wolves defender to get in front of the winger and draw the foul.
73 min Wolves defenders are standing up to this task, they’re chucking themselves in front of crosses and shots. A long way to go yet.
71 min Two-minute stoppage for a new headset and we’re back underway.
69 min The ref has disappeared to get a headset change. Not sure who’s on tech support for the PGMO, but they’re having a tough week after the shenanigans at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Sunday. Two more Villa changes, Ian Maatsen is on for Digne and Tammy Abraham has replaced Buendia.
66 min Mosquera’s long throw causes panic in the Villa box but the threat passes when an over-eager Mosquera shoots against his own player.
62 min Did Martínez take the ball out of his area there? Mané chases down a long ball over the top and the Villa keeper slides out to collect and nearly handles it outside of the box. That was close. The volume has gone up at Molineux.
Goal! Wolves 1-0 Aston Villa (João Gomes 61)
A breakthrough! João Gomes feeds the ball out to Tchatchoua, who continues down the right and sweeps over a low cross. It bobbles back to João Gomes who keeps his composure and beats Martínez with a shot high into the net.
60 min Couple of changes for Villa, Leon Bailey is on for Sancho and Ross Barkley replaces Douglas Luiz.
59 min Cheap corner earned by Villa and Onana is found by Douglas Luiz, but the big man can’t get over the ball and his header goes harmlessly over.
57 min Nice turn and run from Onana to surge through midfield before he’s tugged down by Bellegarde. Yellow for the Wolves man.
56 min Tchatchoua shows off some his rarely seen but electric pace and stands up a cross that Cash heads clear. The Molineux faithful like that.
54 min Wolves enjoying a bit of attacking momentum and Buendia brings it to a halt. He’s booked now. That must be a totting up offence as it wasn’t a malicious coming together with Bellegarde.
52 min Poor defensive header from Villa there and again it’s Toti who gets the chance to shoot. Another poor contact from the edge of the box but this time it nearly comes to Bellegarde.
50 min Sadly, the tepid tempo hasn’t really changed since the break. Ah, Buendia on the deck again. This time it’s Armstrong who has caught him late and for that offence he goes into the book.
47 min Wolves can’t get out at the moment, Villa are pressing high and the home side can’t unpick the lock at the moment. Cash sends over a deep cross to no one. Buendia, who might have been the intended target, is on the floor for some reason.
Peeeeeeep!
Villa get us back underway. Goals please!
Another optimistic Wolves fan, Eanna Mac Craith, has emailed in:
Not a great game, but if we can at least equal Derby’s points record and derail Villa then it’s all good. Season has been awful, so any tiny crumb of comfort we will take!
Couple of EFL games also going on this evening. In the Championship it’s 1-1 between Bristol City and Watford at Ashton Gate. In League Two, home-team Harrogate have just equalised against Cheltenham. A point would mean the Sulphurites (what a nickname) will remain in the bottom two, as it stands.
Half-time: Wolves 0-0 Aston Villa
If I knew nothing about this season and you told me one of these teams was third and the other was bottom I wouldn’t believe you. That half was mid-table fodder at best. Boos at the break.
43 min Bold prediction, but I don’t think we’re going to get a goal before half-time. Since the Douglas Luiz chance we’ve had very little in the way of goulmouth action.
Another live blog fan in America, thanks Rebekah:
I agree with Mr. California. I’m a broke college student from the middle of America. If I want to watch Bayern, I have to pay for ESPN+ and Paramount+ for the Bundesliga and Champions League. If I want to watch the Prem, I have to get Peacock. That’s at least 34 dollars a month; it’s more if I opt for the ad-free subscriptions. And, well, I live off of ramen and tuna sandwiches, so that’s a hard pass for me. The Guardian is the best thing I’ve got. I appreciate everything that you and your colleagues do for me.
