Konsa’s on a roll as nervy Villa claim vital win in battle for top four
EVERYTHING is going right for Ezri Konsa at the moment. Already buzzing from winning his first England caps last week, he followed up by scoring his first goal since 2021 with a mishit cross that totally flummoxed Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa.
Villa were relieved Konsa’s fortuitous strike was added to Moussa Diaby’s power-packed opener so the game could be put bed and allowed them to reclaim fourth place from Spurs.
Wolves have never been the kindest opponents. The last time
Villa beat their neighbours in the Premier League at home was in 2003 when a young Gareth Barry was among the scorers.
There were nerves around Villa Park at kick-off, compounded by news from north London that Tottenham’s late win against Luton had temporarily knocked Unai Emery’s side out of an automatic Champions League spots. Now they are back in the top four despite a shaky start at Molineux.
Wolves carried a threat until they were in front of Emi Martinez and clearly missed their injured forwards Hwang Heechan, Pedro Neto and Matheus Cunha, with 18-year-old Leon
Chiwome asked to lead the line on his Premier debut.
‘The only disappointment was the result. Performance-wise, it was an unbelievable effort,’ said Wolves boss Gary O’Neil.
‘We gave Villa loads of problems. If we’d had certain players, our expected goals would have been goals.’
In contrast, Villa were ruthless even though top scorer Ollie Watkins didn’t reappear after half-time on doctors’ orders after feeling discomfort in his hamstring. ‘It was an important win. We’ve lost three times recently at Villa Park but though we were soft in the first 20 minutes, we recovered and played with discipline,’ said Emery.
‘We are fourth but we can’t be comfortable with that with eight games to go. Tottenham is behind us. Manchester United have the potential to make up points. We have to stay focused.’
Wolves should have taken an early lead when Santiago Bueno’s cross reached Rayan Ait-Nouri at the far post before the defender’s
shot was blocked by Martinez’s left leg. ‘Ninety-nine times out of a hundred that is a goal in the Premier League. He had a lot of the net to aim for,’ said O’Neil who also saw Pablo Sarabia denied from edge of the box.
At the other end Watkins shot into the sidenetting when put through by Youri Tielemans before Diaby broke the deadlock.
Douglas Luiz clipped a free-kick into Leon Bailey’s path and when the resulting cross was halfcleared to Diaby on the edge of the box, Villa’s £52million record signing fired unerringly past Sa.
Jhon Duran replaced Watkins at the interval and Wolves again threatened through Mario Lemina and Chiwome.
Emery sent on Lucas Digne and Nicolo Zaniolo midway through the second half to try and regain control and it worked immediately. Zaniolo found Diaby who moved the ball on to Konsa. The overlapping rightback tried to dink a cross to Duran at the far post but caught it with the wrong part of his foot and it lofted at an angle over Sa’s head. He claimed afterwards it had been part of a cunning plan.
‘Yeah, definitely,’ he said when asked if he’d meant it. The next sentence was more revealing. ‘Whether it was a cross, it went in in the end so it’s my goal.’