Matt Maher: Wolves still dreaming of Europe as Villa face up to a huge summer

No other opponent has been more charitable to Bruno Lage’s men this season.

Over the course of two matches, Villa have gifted their Midlands rivals five goals which have translated into six points that could yet prove precious come the final shake-up seven weeks from now.

Having conceded three times in the final 15 minutes of October’s first meeting, Villa picked up where they off at Molineux on Saturday, with a display of first-half defending so hapless it bordered on the comical.

Barely six minutes had elapsed before slips in quick succession from John McGinn and Ezri Konsa helped set up Jonny Otto for Wolves’ opener. Ashley Young then doubled the lead with a header of which any striker would be proud, the only trouble being it was directed into his own net.

From there a Wolves outfit who have proven themselves more than adept at keeping goals out were always strong favourites. Late wobble after Ollie Watkins’ penalty aside, Lage’s team were impressive and any assessment of the visitors’ frailties should not ignore a team performance of some quality, made all the more creditable due to the absence of top scorer Raul Jimenez and talisman Ruben Neves.

This was a deserved win, yet whether a team for whom taking chances has been an Achilles heel would have grasped it without their opponents generosity is debatable. So shambolic was the nature of Villa’s first-half defensive display, for the second time in six months the main theme of this fixture was their capitulation. The likes of Konsa and Tyrone Mings could well be at the point of getting palpitations anytime they see a gold shirt.

Their manager, meanwhile, is faced with an increasing headache. Barely three weeks after appearing to have deftly negotiated the first mini-crisis of his reign, Steven Gerrard finds himself in another, three straight defeats having highlighted the gulf between his team and those in the positions to which they aspire. Their record against the Premier League’s top eight now reads 11 defeats in 13 matches and they will enter Saturday’s match against Tottenham as firm underdogs.

Losing at Molineux ended any chance of overhauling Wolves. The best Villa can now aim for is ninth, though it is approaching the point where performances are almost as important as results.

At a stage when their squad is the healthiest it has been all season, Villa’s displays are arguably getting worse, littered with uncertainty and recurring problems the manager currently seems at a loss to fix. Saturday might have been an extreme example but they have been too easy to score against this season. Issuing another public warning to his players but acknowledging the buck ultimately stops with himself, Gerrard must know he is at risk of sounding like a broken record. At present a big summer transfer window feels that bit bigger with every passing press conference.

Had he wished, the Villa boss could have pointed to a little misfortune on Saturday. Danny Ings’ overnight dash to London to attend the birth of his child led to Leon Bailey being handed a start barely 30 hours after returning from the Caribbean, while the early loss of Lucas Digne to illness caused further disruption with Young, his replacement, netting what proved to be the winner for the hosts.

The early change also limited Gerrard’s ability to change things from the bench but the decision to delay until the final 20 minutes before introducing Douglas Luiz and Emi Buendia, the latter of whom improved Villa considerably, was puzzling. Either way, no amount of mitigation could detract from the sense a squad assembled at a cost of more than £400million should be capable of far better.

It was Wolves who were supposedly weaker heading into the match through the absence of Jimenez and Neves but not for the first time this season others stepped up to take the mantle. While Neves’ future might be the major talking point around Molineux at the moment, Saturday delivered a reminder of why keeping hold of Joao Moutinho is almost as important.

For more than an hour, at least until Villa decided to belatedly come to the party, the 35-year-old ran the show, submitting another vintage showing in which everything he did was timed to perfection. It is inevitable age will eventually catch up with him but right now that day still looks some considerable distance away. Moutinho’s infectious hunger for the cause alone makes him too precious a commodity for Wolves to lose.

Up front, meanwhile, a player in the early stages of his career took a solid step in the right direction. Fabio Silva’s performance might have lacked a little in aggression but it still comfortably ranked as his best for Wolves to date. Twice the £35million signing drew good saves from Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez, while his link-up play was solid and his energy admirable. The standing ovation received when substituted late will also no doubt help the confidence of a player upon whom so much is expected. At the very least, Silva has surely done enough to earn a start at Newcastle on Friday, when Jimenez will again be missing.

The biggest criticism of Wolves was their failure to completely capitalise on Villa’s first-half fumbling. That led to a nervier than necessary finish when Watkins converted from the spot after being felled by Jose Sa, who then denied Matty Cash an equaliser right at the death.

In what is shaping up – barring a total implosion from Manchester United – to be a straight fight with West Ham for seventh, Wolves’ lack of ruthlessness might ultimately prove telling. But with seven matches to go they remain right in the hunt and the next three, starting with the trip to St James’s Park and followed by meetings with Burnley and Brighton, look particularly key with Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City to come in the final month.

A top-eight finish is now virtually assured and whatever happens between now and May 23 this is already a season which has exceeded expectations, where Lage has wrung pretty much every possible drop from his resources. Villa and Gerrard cannot say the same.