Sixth-placed Wolves make the short trip to Villa Park tomorrow lunchtime as they look to move a step closer to securing European football next season as they face struggling Aston Villa.

Both sides have been in contrasting form since the resumption, Villa collecting two points from their three games while Wolves have won both of their matches.

All this leaves Nuno Espirito Santo’s side in sixth in the Premier League table, five points off a Champions League place which is currently held by Chelsea, Villa are 19th in the table on 27 points but are only in the drop zone on goal difference.

The Midlands derby holds extra significance than normal with both sides fighting at the opposite ends of the table.

Villa have no new injury concerns for the game, while Frederic Guilbert is back available again and Danny Drinkwater and Henri Lansbury could be involved for the first to since the resumption.

For Wolves, they also have no new concerns and Pedro Neto could earn a start after some strong displays off the bench in recent games.

Dean Smith is aware what his side must do to turn their draws into wins

“We all know what a win means and what it can do for the league table.

“We aren’t giving too many chances away, but we need to convert our chances.

“We have to be more clinical when we get those opportunities, because we worked some great situations last night.”

Nuno on being able to return strongly after the break

“We were able to anticipate well the scenario of the Premier League. Before the lockdown, we prepared well in terms of individual planning for players, the way they changed their behaviours and normal lives. Since we’ve come back, the players have been amazing.

“This is our philosophy, it’s like trying to fill a big bottle of water, each day you have to put something in there because you’re going to need it for the future – it’s a simple view. That cannot be a surprise, because as long as we keep this belief and work ethic, we are ready to compete.”

Their last encounter

The two sides met earlier in the season at Molineux with the Wolves claiming a 2-1 victory which at the time took them up to 8th on 16 points.

Goals from Ruben Neves and Raul Jimenez saw Wolves into a comfortable position before Trézéguet scored a late consolation.

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