Aston Villa in-search of their winning formula as Dean Smith’s side travel to Molineux in the battle of the West Midlands

Having faced defeat in four of their last five fixtures in the Premier League, Villa find themselves in 12^th place with two games in hand on West Midland rivals, Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Both teams come into the clash on the back of defeat. Wolves faced Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and were beaten 4-0 at Anfield in which the black country club were dominated by the Premier League champions. Meanwhile Villa hadn’t played in matchday 11 due to Newcastle United suffering an outbreak of COVID-19, leading to the match being postponed.

Nuno Espirito Santo will turn to Daniel Podence to lead the forward line for Wolves after Mexican striker Raul Jimenez suffered a serious head injury in their win against Arsenal. As well as having Portuguese wonderkid, Fabio Silva, potentially ready to come into the starting XI.

Villa will be without Ross Barkley yet again after suffering an injury early on against Brighton & Hove Albion in a 2-1 defeat. Dean Smith faces a difficult decision on who should replace Barkley for this important fixture, in the busy festive period.

Aston Villa manager Dean Smith commented on Ross Barkley’s hamstring injury citing:

“With the postponement of the Newcastle game, it’s one less game for him to miss, we look to have him back after the Wolves game”

It’s likely that Smith will start Republic of Ireland international, Conor Hourihane, for his second game in a row. The Irishman provides danger off of set pieces, which the Villans have lacked so far this season. Hourihane has only made five appearances so far this season, starting three times and coming off the bench twice.

Suffering a poor defeat on the road at West Ham, having a goal ruled it in the dying moments of the game and a missed penalty, Villa will heavily rely on team spirit in order to improve the poor form following their undefeated start to the season.

It’s the simple things that have gone wrong for Dean Smith so far this season, having swept aside Liverpool and Arsenal, then losing to Southampton conceding three goals from set pieces, the West Midlands club went onto fight back against the Saints but failed to do so after Jack Grealish scored a consolation goal late on.

In this two-week break ahead of Wolves, Villa will be re-energised and ready to take all three points at the Molineux.

Smith has also revealed that long term absentees from the first team, Tom Heaton and Wesley have stepped up their road to recovery after both players sustained ligament injuries on New Year’s Day.

Ollie Watkins remains to be Villa’s first choice forward ahead of the short trip to Wolverhampton, with Wesley edging closer to getting back onto the pitch, providing healthy competition for the front line at Villa Park.

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