Wolverhampton Wanderers seek revenge on local rivals Aston Villa to give the wolf pack something to shout about

Embed from Getty Images

In what has been a rather unsuccessful season for Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolves, a victory over their local rivals could provide supporters of the club something to shout about after previously seeing defeat at Molineux to both Aston Villa and West Brom.

Respectively, their hosts sit in ninth place coming into Saturday’s game and five points clear of Nuno’s side. A win for the chasing wolf pack will see the points deficit reduce to only two, as we begin to enter the latter stages of this campaign.

A much-improved Aston Villa will appear to make the task at hand much harder than expected as they’ll be looking to bounce back from midweek misery at Bramall Lane, an unexpected defeat for the Villans who were stunned by the grit and determination of Chris Wilder’s Blades.

Wolves come into the clash off the back of a defeat to the league leaders, Manchester City. Despite Conor Coady’s 61st minute equaliser, the quality of the Citizens squad proved to be key as goals from Gabriel Jesus and Riyad Mahrez sunk Nuno’s men in a 4-1 defeat at the Etihad.

In more positive news for the WV1 outfit, Willy Boly made a return to the Wanderers’ bench midweek and has now entered contention for a place in the starting XI after a week of full training.

Daniel Podence is also edging closer to a return in action for Wolves after an injury to the hip. The Portuguese midfielder has been a huge miss in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, for Dean Smith’s men, it will be another encounter where Jack Grealish and Matty Cash will be absent from the matchday squad. A massive blow for the Villans if they’re to dust themselves off and bounce back against their West Midlands rivals.

Smith confirmed this in Villa’s pre-match press conference:

“He’s doing better (Jack Grealish), he’s unlikely to play. He’s pain free so once I sit down with the medical staff, we’ll decide.”

However, for the former Forest man, a return to first team action may be slightly further away:

“Matty Cash is still recovering; it shouldn’t be too long before he’s back training with us.”

With Grealish on the cusp of a return to action, this could be a huge boost for Aston Villa in their attempt to climb closer towards a European adventure.

Ever since arriving at Molineux, Pedro Neto has taken to life in the orange and black of Wolves. The winger will look to cause a series of problems for Villa’s defence, specifically Ahmed Elmohamady who is set to start despite his poor performance against Sheffield United. A headache which Smith’s men will have to suppress from the off if they’re to bounce back on home soil.

Last time out, the Villans stole the show late on thanks to a 94th-minute penalty from Anwar El Ghazi back in mid-December. Villa went on to go unbeaten for the entire Christmas period, keeping four clean sheets in the process after this result.

Nuno’s men will be in search of revenge this weekend in order to avoid a league double defeat to their rivals for the first time since 2003/04.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt