Aston Villa continue their pursuit of consecutive seasons playing European football with an easy 2-0 victory over West Midlands rivals, Wolves in the Premier League.
Goals either side of half-time from Moussa Diaby and Ezri Konsa were enough to seal all three points for the home side.
Villa returned to winning ways at home after a 4-0 defeat to Tottenham in their last league game at Villa Park, while Wolves fall to three defeats in four games across all competitions.
Aston Villa look increasingly likely for Champions League football.
With the win against Wolves, it cements their spot in fourth place for now, with Tottenham and Man United both having a game in hand on them, despite being three points ahead of Spurs and now 11 ahead of Man United.
Following the restructure of the UEFA Champions League, if England finish in the top two of the country coefficient table, they will be granted an extra spot in the competition.
Meaning Aston Villa could finish in fifth place and play Champions League football next season, which is looking more likely being 11 points ahead of sixth place, with just eight games left and returning to good form.
One concern for Aston Villa is injuries, Ollie Watkins went off at half-time with a slight knock, with the likes of John McGinn, Boubacar Kamara, Emiliano Buendia, Matty Cash, Jacob Ramsey and Tyrone Mings already sidelined.
If Unai Emery is able to field his star striker for the rest of the season and prevent any other injuries in the squad, they will stand a chance of getting Champions League football for the first time in the club’s history.
Wolves now have six games to push for European football.
The away side now sit in 10th place in the Premier League, just two points off eighth which could merit European football, Wolves’ next six games will prove pivotal.
In the next six games, referring to multiple statistics, Wolves have the joint third easiest fixture list in the league, playing three of the bottom four and Bournemouth in that stretch.
Wolves finish the season with two games against Arsenal and Man City in their final three, so Gary O’Neil will be hoping his side do not have to go into those games in need of wins.
Despite the said positives, Wolves evidently have an injury crisis among the squad at the moment, Pablo Sarabia is the only senior forward available for selection, with 18-year-old Leon Chiwome starting this game and failing to make a real impact.
This game proved how thin Wolves’ squad is being stretched, the attack looked bereft of creativity and lacked cutting edge all game, Rayan Ait-Nouri had the best chance of the game early in the first half which he failed to convert.
Moussa Diaby continues his successful debut season.
In a game that lacked real quality, Diaby stood out as the catalyst for the home side, scoring the opener and setting up the second goal.
Despite arguably not being at his very best this season, the winger now has five goals and nine assists for The Villains in the League, impressive numbers for a debut season in the Premier League.
The Frenchman moved to England from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer transfer window for just over £50million and has featured in every Premier League game this season.
With Villa striker Ollie Watkins being taken off at half-time with a suspected hamstring injury, Diaby will be one of Villa’s biggest goal threats if Watkins stays out injured.
Joao Gomes is a star ready to emerge.
In a game with no real learning moments for O’Neil, one thing that stood out was Gomes’ performance and the consistency he showed throughout the game.
Gomes was rewarded with the best match rating of the game for Wolves according to several media outlets, while recording the most tackles for Wolves with seven, and only Mario Lemina had a better pass completion rate than Gomes for the away side.
Gomes has started 23 games in the league this season, missing out on the starting eleven in six games; in those six games Wolves have drawn twice and lost four.
In the 23 games Gomes has started, Wolves have won 12 games, meaning Gomes has been involved in more wins than draws and losses combined this season, also meaning in every Wolves league win, Gomes started the game, a staggering stat for a side sat in 10th place.
The midfielder has had an excellent week, previously making his Brazil debut against England at Wembley, the Saturday before, and also playing in the game against Spain in midweek.
The 23-year-old has already played the most league minutes in a season for himself, proving to be a key player in a Premier League side at such a young age, also now a Brazilian international.