(Football news) Wolves are ecstatic right now because they ended Manchester City’s unbeaten start to the season last weekend, and Unai Emery’s team is also celebrating their very late continental victory.
Pep Guardiola, the treble-winning head coach of Man City, mentioned Matheus Cunha and Pedro Neto as attackers who could pose a challenge for his team at Molineux before referring to Hwang Hee-chan as “the Korean guy” after ostensibly forgetting the former RB Leipzig player’s name.
The Catalan’s remark may have elicited a few chuckles at the moment, but Hwang had the last laugh this past weekend, as the South Korean international scored the winning goal to defeat the champs after Ruben Dias deflected Julian Alvarez’s incredible free kick into his own net.
Just four days after being humiliated by Championship powerhouse Ipswich Town in the EFL Cup, Gary O’Neil’s team miraculously ended the Citizens’ unbeaten start to the 2023–24 Premier League season as Wolves amusingly paid respect to their “Korean guy” on social media.
Wolves’ victory over the English and European champions also ended a four-game losing streak, but their standing is still perilous as they currently occupy the 15th spot in the rankings and are only three points away from the dreaded dotted line.
Although O’Neil’s team struggled offensively last season, they have now scored in each of their last eight games in all competitions. However, the fact that they have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last five games makes them less likely to succeed against a Villa team that found its shooting touch late in midweek.
Emery unavoidably upset the balance of his starting lineup from their 6-1 thrashing of Brighton & Hove Albion when Bosnian team Zrinjski Mostar paid a visit as Aston Villa adjusted to the demanding demands of Europa Conference League competition alongside their Premier League duties.
A drastically different Lions side fought and puffed, but it seemed like it would be one of those days for Emery’s club. That is, until captain John McGinn headed home the game’s lone goal deep into second-half injury time, as Villa scored at the second opportunity to open their account in Europe’s third event.
Emery’s team travels to Molineux having also won five of their last six Premier League games, including each of their last three against Crystal Palace, Chelsea, and a struggling Brighton. This is in an effort to atone for their opening 3-2 loss to Legia Warsaw as well as their shocking EFL Cup exit at the hands of Everton.
It has been a different story for Emery’s team away from Villa Park, where the Lions have turned it into a fearsome fortress. They have only won two of their previous eight away games in the Premier League, and until shutting out Chelsea last month, they had given up eight consecutive goals.
Additionally, Villa’s recent success has not yet translated into supremacy in the West Midlands rivalry, as they have gone five games without a victory over Wolves since a 1-0 victory at Molineux in December 2020. Most recently, they suffered a loss by the same score at the same venue in May due to an early Toti goal.
Also read: Brighton set to play Liverpool in Premier League
