Aston Villa faced off against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Molineux Stadium earlier today hoping to pick up a positive result in the West Midlands derby. Both teams fought tooth and nail in the first 45 minutes but couldn’t manage to score the opening goal as they went into the half-time break with nothing to split them.
The Villans suffered a late set-back when Douglas Luiz was sent off in the 85th minute. However, Dean Smith’s players kept pushing in search of the winning goal despite their numerical disadvantage. They earned a late penalty which Anwar El Ghazi converted with ease to salvage all three points for his side in the derby. The match ended with the Villans securing a last-gasp 1-0 win over their West Midlands rivals.
Let’s take a look at how each Aston Villa player fared during the contest against Wolves.
GK: Emiliano Martínez – 9/10
The ex-Arsenal keeper was mostly untroubled in the early goings of the game but pulled off some world-class saves to keep the Wolves attackers frustrated during the 90 minutes. He ended the game with a well-deserved clean sheet to his name.
RB: Matty Cash – 7/10
Cash was defensively solid as he kept a good shape at the back. He was not afraid to battle for the loose ball and had a couple of bright moments in the opposition half as well.
CB: Ezri Konsa – 7/10
He was a rock at the back and made a few important clearances during the game. He was also quite tidy with his ball-distribution out from defence.
CB: Tyrone Mings – 7.5/10
Mings was a dominant presence in the air and made multiple clearances to come to his side’s rescue time and time again. He will be happy with the clean sheet today.
LB: Matt Targett – 7/10
Targett was not shy about getting stuck in with a few tackles and didn’t give away too much defensively. However, he struggled to create too many chances for his teammates up top.
CM: Jacob Ramsey – 6/10
The youngster failed to get a foothold in midfield but did enough for his team to secure the win.
CM: Douglas Luiz – 5/10
The Brazilian midfield ace hardly gave away the ball during his time on the field. However, he received a red card in the 85th minute, which won’t go down well with Dean Smith.
CM: John McGinn – 6.5/10
The Scottish playmaker was bright and energetic throughout the 90 minutes in what was another industrious performance from him today.
LW: Jack Grealish – 7/10
The Villans captain went close to scoring with his free-kick. He even created a few decent chances for his teammates in the final third.
ST: Ollie Watkins – 6/10
Watkins was often outnumbered by the Wolves defenders and never looked like he had a goal in him.
RW: Bertrand Traoré – 6/10
Traore was always willing to run with the ball and worked hard towards helping his teammates out defensively. However, it was a far from convincing display from him this afternoon.
Substitutes:
CAM: Anwar El Ghazi – 7/10
He came off the bench to net the winner in injury-time via the penalty spot.
CM: Marvelous Nakamba – N/A
Nakamba did not get enough time to make an impact.
