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In a fascinating Premier League contest this weekend, Wolves host Aston Villa at Molinuex.
After the midweek defeat at the hands of local rivals Birmingham City, Wolves manager Mick McCarthy will be adamant his team put in a good performance against Villa in their second successive derby match of the week.
Wolves stand just a point above the relegation zone, mainly due to a poor run of form which has seen them on a winless streak for 7 games. Therefore anything but a positive result could see them slide towards the summit of the league.
Aston Villa themselves are still looking to ignite their season with a string of good results, a thing that up till now they have not managed to do. Alex McLeish’s side are constantly throwing away leads and after a superb win away against Chelsea they have then slumped to a poor defeat at the hands of Swansea and a disappointing draw with Everton.
However, Villa’s recent away form makes good reading as they are unbeaten in 4 games away from Villa Park. A win against Wolves would secure their mid table status and hopefully have the club looking to push up the league.
Wolves will make wholesale changes to the team that disappointingly lost to Birmingham midweek, meaning top scorer Steven Fletcher will return as well as the likes of Roger Johnson and Matthew Jarvis who were both ruled out of the midweek F.A Cup exit.
McLeish has a choice of whether to give Robbie Keane his full debut for the club against his former employees. He has been reported to be doing well in training and has more than staked a claim for a place in the starting line up so it is up to McLeish to find a winning formula. However Chris Herd and Emile Heskey are still ruled out.
Match Winner
Wolves are somewhat surprisingly slight favourites for this encounter, purely down to home advantage.
William Hill has them at 2.63 (13/8) to win the match, where as Aston Villa are best priced with Paddy Power at 2.88 (15/8).
A draw is 3.30 (23/10) with Sky Bet.
First Goalscorer
After scoring against Everton last week, Darren Bent is set to be Villa’s main goal threat against Wolves. His poacher qualities should not be overlooked and he is 6.50 (11/2) with Paddy Power to score first.
Gabby Agbonlahor always manages to save his best for derby day and if McLeish decides to start the front man he is 7.50 (13/2) to score first, very good odds for a man in form.
Wolves top goal scorer Steven Fletcher is best priced 6.00 (5/1) to score first with William Hill and it is hard to look behind him as to who will do the damage for the Wolves side.
By Christopher Barlow
