Aston Villa to Tame Wolves

Wolves v Aston Villa
Saturday May 6, 2023, 14:00 ET
At Molineux Stadium

This West Midlands derby is always keenly fought but Aston Villa is the best pick to get the better of its neighbours on Saturday.

Who do Bettors Favor?

According to the top-rated sportsbooks bettors are favoring Aston Villa here, despite Villa being the visiting team. Unai Emery’s team is rated as the +150 favorites to win the game, while the home team is priced at +190 and the draw is the underdog at +230.

Wolves v Aston Villa
Wolves	+198	+193	+190
Draw	+231	+226	+230
Aston Villa	+152	+149	+150

Wolves Not Out of the Woods

It took a lot of work to get there, but when Wolves won back-to-back games against Chelsea and Brentford at the start of April, it seemed that Julen Lopetegui’s efforts had finally ensured that Wolverhampton Wanderers would avoid relegation to the Championship.

Yet some of that work was undone in Wolves’ last two road games, which saw the team lose 2-1 at relegation rivals Leicester and then suffer a 6-0 humiliation at Brighton last weekend, which means that the team is only four places and seven points clear of the drop zone and not yet out of the woods.

To make things even harder for the Wolves players, the remaining four fixtures include games against Manchester United and Arsenal, as well as relegation-threatened Everton, along with this West Midlands derby. That seven-point gap may have shrunk alarmingly by the time the team heads to the Emirates Stadium on the last day of the season, so a win here would be extremely welcome.

Villa European Hopes Alive

A ten-game unbeaten run stretching back to February was ended by the 1-0 defeat at Manchester United last time out, but the improvement in the team since Unai Emery took over in November is clear and Aston Villa’s hopes of earning a place in Europe next season are still alive.

Villa goes into this game in seventh place in the Premier League, level on points with sixth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, but five points back from Liverpool, which currently holds the last European spot.

Unfortunately for Emery and his players, Villa’s remaining fixtures look even tougher than those for Wolves. After this derby, Villa takes on Tottenham, Liverpool and eighth-placed Brighton, which currently has three games in hand on Villa and last week put six past Wolves.

So, it remains a tall order for Villa to get that fifth spot in the standings, but a win here, against an old and bitter rival, would keep the team in the hunt and give the Villa players plenty to fight for in the closing three games of the season, with the promise of more to come next season.

Premier League Betting Head-to-Head

As they were founding members of the Football League, back in 1888, you will not be surprised to learn that there is a long history of rivalry between Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The head-to-head record shows that the two teams have met 133 times in their history, with the first game way back in the 1886 FA Cup, two years before the beginning of the League. That game finished in a 2-2 draw and the tie took another three games to find a winner, eventually going to Aston Villa.

Overall, Villa has had the better of the rivalry, winning 56 times to a total of 43 wins for Wolves and 34 draws, but in recent seasons, it has been the weaker of the two. Four of the last seven meetings between the teams have ended in Wolves victories and Villa hasn’t beaten Wolves since December 2020.

Premier League Betting Team News

The team news for Wolves is not good going into this game as Julen Lopetegui has to cope with another injury to a key player. Nelson Samedo went off with a knee injury against Manchester United and is not expected to be fit to play here. His name has been added to a list that includes long-term absentees Chiquinho and Sasa Kalajdzic, while Boubacar Traore is also unlikely to be available.

For Villa, there is a possibility that Unai Emery will be able to bring back a couple of players to strengthen his squad here. Boubacar Kamara has been out of action since April and is likely to be missing for another week, but there is better news about Matty Cash, who has been out of action with a calf problem. He may be in line for a recall, along with Philippe Coutinho and Leon Bailey.

Premier League Match Betting Pick

Lopetegui’s team has a strong home record, but it is not in the kind of form that we have seen from Villa in recent weeks and the tension of possible relegation battle, combined with the pressure of a local derby may not help the home team play at its best. By contrast, Villa’s only two Premier League defeats on the road under Emery have come against Manchester City and Manchester United. This will be a tight game, but Villa looks the best pick in the match betting market.

”Aston To beat Wolves

+152

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