Wolverhampton Wanderers v Aston Villa

TEAM NEWS

Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves will be out until at least May after suffering a medial collateral ligament injury to his knee against Leeds.

Striker Raul Jimenez begins a two-game ban after being sent off in that match, his second dismissal of the season.

Left-back Lucas Digne is set to return for Aston Villa after missing the loss to Arsenal with a hamstring issue.

He proved his fitness by playing 90 minutes for France in their 5-0 win against South Africa on Tuesday.

LAWRO’S PREDICTION

I’m going for another draw here. Villa have lost 10 of their 12 games against the teams above them in the table so far this season, but they are only one place below Wolves and these two teams are pretty well-matched, quality-wise.

Prediction: 1-1

Lawro’s full predictions v actor Jim Piddock

Bruno Lage's team have lost four of their previous six games, as many defeats as they suffered in their previous 19 top-flight matches

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

Wolves have won three of their last five Premier League games against Aston Villa (D1, L1), as many as they had in the previous 26 top-flight meetings.
Villa are vying to win consecutive matches away to Wolves for the first time since 2012.
There have only been two home wins in the 13 Premier League matches between these sides (four draws, seven away victories).

Wolverhampton Wanderers

This is Wolves’ 2,500th home league match (excluding play-off fixtures). They are the third club to reach this landmark, after Preston North End (2,543) and Burnley (2,504).
Wolves have earned 21 Premier League points this calendar year – only Liverpool, with 28 points, have a better record.
Bruno Lage’s team have failed to score in eight top-flight home matches this season, a joint high with Brighton.
They have conceded just 6.9% of their shots faced in the Premier League this season (26 goals conceded from 377 shots), the lowest such rate in the competition.
Hwang Hee-chan scored four times in his first six Premier League appearances but has only netted once in his subsequent 16 games.

Aston Villa

Aston Villa have lost consecutive Premier League matches for the third time under Steven Gerrard – they have yet to lose three in a row since his appointment in November.
Seven of the Villans’ eight league defeats under Gerrard have been by a single goal, with the exception a 3-1 home loss to Chelsea.
Villa have lost 15 of their 29 league matches in 2021-22, equalling their total number of defeats last season.
They have lost 10 of their 12 top-flight fixtures this season against teams currently above them in the table – the exceptions were a win away to Manchester United and a draw at home versus the same opponents.
Danny Ings has scored in his last two games against Wolves but has ended on the losing side both times.
Only three players have netted in three consecutive Premier League matches against an opponent and lost each time – Matt Le Tissier versus Oldham (1993-1994), Rod Wallace against Norwich City (1993-1994) and Ashley Barnes versus Arsenal (2018-2019).

Choose your Aston Villa formation and starting line-up. It’s up to you how to approach it – you could go for the team you WANT the boss to pick or the one you THINK he will.