Wolves take derby honours while Villa boss Smith fumes at display
Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Aston Villa 2-1 in yesterday’s Midlands derby with goals from Ruben Neves and Raul Jimenez taking them into the top eight in the Premier League.
It was a difficult afternoon for Villa from the moment they lost goalkeeper Jed Steer to injury after only five minutes.
Wolves dominated and the only surprise was it took them until nearly halftime to go ahead, Neves giving replacement keeper Orjan Nyland no chance with a thumping drive.
Another injury for Villa led to left back Matt Targett being replaced before the interval but the visitors showed plenty of endeavour after the break to stay in the game.
Villa even threatened to equalise on the odd occasions but Wolves effectively sealed the points when Jimenez, guilty of wasting some earlier chances, fired into the corner after good work by the dangerous Adama Traore.
There was some consolation for Villa when Trezeguet halved the deficit in stoppage time but it proved too little, too late.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are unbeaten in the league since September 14 and enter the international break in high spirits.
“We always compete, this is very tough to do and it makes me very proud,” Nuno said.
“We played very well, we dominated the game, especially in the first half. I’m happy with the performance and atmosphere.
“When you produce so many chances you must finish the actions, we broke a lot of times and we clearly didn’t finish it. We need to improve on that.”
Villa manager Dean Smith did not use the injuries as excuses, saying his side failed to match Wolves’ desire. “That’s as bad a first 45 minutes I’ve had since Wigan away last year. Very poor, didn’t start,” he said. “It appeared the game was bigger for them than it was for us, we didn’t win any balls, duels, didn’t pass it well. The best thing I got out of the first half was it was only 1-0 at half-time.
“They were right up for it from the start and we didn’t have enough intensity in our play.”