Thunderbolt by Neves keeps Wolves flying and ends fatigue fears
Three days after missing a “very bad” penalty, Ruben Neves proved he always has an eye for the spectacular, with a sublime goal straight outta Compton, the Wolverhampton Wanderers training ground.
Neves has been taken off penalty duties after his dreadful effort against Slovan Bratislava on Thursday, but here was another brilliant long-distance strike for his collection, which set Wolves on their way towards a deserved victory.
The Portugal international’s 25-yard special, placed to perfection from Joao Moutinho’s clever free-kick, sparked this Midlands derby into life in the 24th game of the season for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team. Raul Jimenez added a second goal late on to extend Wolves’s unbeaten run in the Premier League to seven games, and the fears over fatigue due to their Europa League commitments are dissipating with each passing week.
Aston Villa must have feared they were in for a frustrating afternoon when goalkeeper Jed Steer, in for the injured Tom Heaton, lasted just eight minutes, and their experience at Molineux did not improve much from that point. They did score in added time, through winger Trezeguet, but it was a strangely underwhelming performance.
Wolves are now up from 16th to eighth in the table. Nuno said: “It was a very good response from Ruben [after Thursday] and he played really well. We work on a lot of things and the credit is to the players. Joao takes the decision and he has the knowledge to do it.
“To be this high after so many games makes me really proud. In all of those games we have always competed, and we’re not relying on ups and downs.”
Villa have now lost three games in a row and the return of their captain and driving force, Jack Grealish, who missed out again yesterday with a calf problem, cannot come quickly enough. Villa never looked fluent and were devoid of any attacking threat in a tame team performance that Dean Smith, the manager, cannot have seen coming, following spirited displays against Manchester City and Liverpool.
They struggled all afternoon to combat the strength of Jimenez or the direct running of Adama Traore, with the winger later described as “unique” by Nuno, and were arguably flattered by the slender margin of defeat.
Smith produced a blunt assessment of the performance. “It looked like the game was more important to them than us. I’ve not seen us play that poorly since Wigan away in the Championship last season,” he said.
“We didn’t cope with the pressure in the first 45 minutes and you can’t give anyone a head start at this level. You couldn’t print what I told them at half-time.
“We were more like the Aston Villa we know in the second half, but I’m still very disappointed.”
This was always going to be a drastically different encounter to their meeting in the Carabao Cup last month, when Nuno made 11 changes and utilised many of the club’s academy players.
Villa’s pre-match preparations were disrupted by the injury to Heaton, with Steer called in to make only his second Premier League appearance.
It was a brief afternoon for the goalkeeper, who suffered an Achilles injury after just eight minutes when he landed awkwardly after tipping Matt Doherty’s curling cross over the bar.
Orjan Nyland, the usual No 3 goalkeeper, made his first appearance this year, but could do nothing to prevent Neves’s strike four minutes before half-time.
It was a goal straight off the training field. Moutinho stepped up to take a free-kick and, shaping as if to cross, bewildered Villa by teeing up the unmarked Neves on the edge of the area, with the £15million midfielder arrowing a superb shot into the corner.
Villa had been poor and the home team had further chances to increase their lead in the second half. Traore struck the crossbar, while Nyland tipped over Diogo Jota’s fierce shot.
It was not until five minutes from time that a home win was put beyond doubt. Jimenez converted from close range after another fine run from Traore and, although Villa scored in the 92nd minute through Egypt international Trezeguet, there was no time for a late bombardment.
Hostilities will be renewed in April.