Wolves vs Aston Villa Predictions: Nobody’s afraid of the bad, bad Wolves

Premier League whipping boys Wolverhampton Wanderers welcome no-longer-title-contenders Aston Villa to Molineux this Friday, February 26 (20:00 GMT, Sky Sports). The hosts have won one league match all season. The visitors have gone from looking up at Manchester City to looking down at Manchester United. Life comes at you fast.

Read on for my Wolves vs Aston Villa predictions bolstered by the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Hwang Hee-chan is a doubt, having missed three Premier League outings and an FA Cup game with a calf injury. The South Korea international is expected to return next month, having resumed first team training.

Manager Rob Edwards will have to do without Ladislav Krejci. The Czech Republic international was sent off for a second bookable offence in Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace for kicking the ball away. 

Villa midfielder John McGinn offered a positive update on his recovery from a knee injury this week. The Scotland star is targeting next month for a comeback, which is obviously too soon for this encounter.

Midfield has been a hard-hit area for Unai Emery’s men. Creative fulcrum Youri Tielemans is not expected to return until April from his ankle injury. Meanwhile, Boubacar Kamara is sidelined with a knee problem while further forward.

Harvey Elliott is out with a minor injury. The on-loan Liverpool star has had a stop-start time of it in the west Midlands, with Emery keen not to trigger the reported appearance clause that would make his move permanent.

Wolves vs Aston Villa Odds

Wolves are 11/4 to secure their second league win of the season. With only pride to play for, it is no surprise their opponents Villa are 9/10 to beat them. The draw is priced at 13/5.

The scoring market is led by Ollie Watkins. It’s 4/1 if you fancy the England man to net the first goal. For Watkins to score any time, 11/8 is your price.

Aston Villa to win to nil @ 21/10

Not a hard one to understand this. Wolves have shipped 51 goals this term, the second-worst total behind 19th-placed Burnley’s 52. But the Turf Moor side have scored 29 goals to a measly 18 for tonight’s hosts.

Wolves have failed to score in 15 of their 28 games this term, including their 1-0 loss at Villa Park. Villa have seven clean sheets this term and boast the third-best defence in the league. The Villans should get out of town without Dibu Martinez picking the ball out of his net.

Aston Villa win and under 3.5 total goals @ 6/4

This one might be puzzling given my previous appraisal of the Wolves defence. But Villa are not exactly banging them in at present. They haven’t scored more than two goals in a league game since January 3, when they beat Nottingham Forest 3-1.

Seven games have come and gone since then. Villa have only scored more than once in one of those; a 2-0 win at Newcastle United. The 3.5 goals market gives us some leeway allowing for Wolves to be worse defensively than any other side Villa have met during that run.

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