Aston Villa 1 Wolves 0: Kamara strike wins it but battling Wolves show pride

The visitors gave a good account of themselves at Villa Park and had enough first half chances to take the lead, while Jorgen Strand Larsen had a goal disallowed.

Villa huffed and puffed but finally broke through when Boubacar Kamara fired the ball into the top corner from the edge of the box.

Wolves were unable to find a way back into the game and fell to their 11th defeat in 13 Premier League games.

Analysis

Unai Emery made one change from the Villa side that beat Leeds in their last Premier League match.

Striker Ollie Watkins was benched as Donyell Malen was given a start following his impressive form.

Malen was also one of five players that kept their place after the midweek Europa League win over Young Boys.

Rob Edwards made three changes to his Wolves side after their defeat to Crystal Palace in his first match as head coach.

Yerson Mosquera, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Jhon Arias came in for Ladislav Krejci, Marshall Munetsi and Tolu Arokodare.

Krejci missed out altogether with a knee injury, while Fer Lopez was also not included due to an adductor knock. Both injuries are believed to be minor.

As the two teams came out to fireworks at a boisterous Villa Park, a huge tifo went up at the Holte End for John McGinn’s 300th Villa appearance, which he recently achieved.

The hosts had an early chance when a free-kick was whipped in and Pau Torres beat Sam Johnstone to the ball but saw his header come back off the crossbar.

Villa dominated the early stages of the game and were enjoying space on both flanks. 

A strong Lucas Digne cross would have caused Wolves trouble if Emmanuel Agbadou did not react quickest to clear his lines.

Wolves had an opening when David Moller Wolfe found space on the left, but his low cross was also dealt with.

The visitors settled into the game and had a sustained spell of possession, as they battled well against the in-form opposition.

Larsen finished off a nice move from a Jackson Tchatchoua cross to give Wolves the lead, but the away end celebrations were cut short as the linesman raised his flag.

A very brief VAR check showed Arias was in an offside position and impeding goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez when Larsen’s shot went in.

It was a match that had some of the expected derby fire and passion as both sets of players got stuck into tackles, and that played more into Wolves’ hands as they disrupted Villa’s rhythm.

Emery’s side were also wasteful with some of their counter-attacks when Wolves were trying to recover defensively.

Although there was little to separate the sides, Villa were enjoying a strong spell in possession around the 35th minute mark, as they pushed for an opener.

Wolves had a good chance when Tchatchoua crossed and Larsen got across his marker to meet it at the near post, but his shot was saved by Martinez.

From the resulting corner, Mosquera saw his free header hit the underside of the crossbar and bounce on the line as Wolves came agonisingly close to taking the lead. Replays showed Martinez got a touch on it too.

Villa were restricted to shots from outside the box and although Wolves were less than fluid in the final third, they entered half-time the happier of the two teams with a 0-0 stalemate.

The start of the second half was fairly subdued, as Villa controlled possession but a calm and composed Wolves defended well.

It burst into life when a sloppy Joao Gomes pass relinquished a Wolves attack and Villa countered. Malen beat Agbadou and was in, but Toti Gomes made an excellent recovery tackle.

That then set up another Wolves attack as Bellegarde charged down the left flank and his ball to the far post seemed destined for a Larsen tap in, until Pau made a crucial intervention as he came sliding in.

Bellegarde had another chance shortly after when the ball fell for him just inside the box on the half-volley, but Martinez was equal to his effort. Arias was also flagged offside for a very similar offence that saw Larsen’s first half goal chalked off.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 67th minute when Kamara picked the ball up on the edge of the box and rifled it into the top corner.

The hosts were buoyed by the goal and pushed for another, with Malen having two efforts blocked.

The game was paused briefly when referee Chris Kavanagh was sent to the pitchside monitor for a possible Arias red card. The tackle on Kamara was deemed ‘reckless only’ and Arias was given a yellow card.

Wolves settled again and had nine minutes of added time to find a response. J.Gomes had a shot saved from inside the box following a corner, as they pushed for an equaliser.

But they were unable to find it as they slipped to another defeat.

Key Moments

GOAL 67 Kamara fires Villa into the lead

Teams

Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Pau, Digne, Tielemans (Barkley, 75, Sancho, 88), Kamara (Bogarde, 88), McGinn, Buendia (Watkins, 54), Rogers, Malen (Onana, 75).

Subs not used: Bizot, Lindelof, Maatsen, Guessand.

Wolves: Johnstone, Tchatchoua, Mosquera (Mane, 77), Agbadou, Toti, Wolfe (H.Bueno, 77), Andre, J.Gomes, Bellegarde (Chirewa, 69), Arias (Arokodare, 87), Larsen.

Subs not used: Sa, S.Bueno, Hoever, Munetsi, Hwang.