10 days that could shape our season.
Can we give Liverpool a run for their money in the FA Cup? Will we overcome Forest to make it to the semi-finals of the League Cup for the first time since I don’t know when? Do we dare do anything but win the relegation six-pointer against West Ham?
Before all that though, there’s the small matter of the local derby that isn’t a local derby.
Or should we call it the Spanish Inquisition?
El Classico?
No? Fair enough.
Villa
Three wins in four league matches is a brilliant start for Unai Emery. Even in the game they lost to Liverpool, they squandered a lot of good opportunities.
Beating Spurs at the weekend was a statement result and they’ll rightly come into this game as strong favourites.
An advantage they hold over Wolves is multiple players that get forward, create opportunities and score goals. Ings, Watkins, Bailey, Luiz and Buendia all carry a threat and it’s no surprise they’ve scored nine goals more than us.
Worryingly, they’ve looked tighter defensively too since Emery came on board, particularly against Spurs who struggled to create anything.
A top 8 finish is probably a realistic ambition for this season and they’ll hope to go well in the FA Cup, starting with a favourable home tie against Stevenage at the weekend.
Wolves
Matheus Cunha is eligible to play so does Lopetegui throw the Brazilian straight into the action?
He can play out wide or through the middle so that increases his chances of making an immediate jump to the starting XI.
I think Diego Costa has given the attack much-needed physical presence despite his form in front of goal being dire to non-existent.
And whatever your criticism of his efforts might be, Wolves still aren’t creating chances in open play so the whole team need to improve their output if we’re to consistently pick up results.
I’d like to see Boubacar in the midfield to give us more bite and energy. I think we’re too static with Neves and Moutinho, which goes a long way to explaining why we don’t score many goals playing in this system.
Predictions
Well done to Ben Rasmin, who was the only person to correctly predict the scoreline in the defeat to Man Utd on Saturday.
Rich remains a point clear at the top of the overall table at the end of Gameweek 17.
As always, if you’d like to join in with the Prediction League this season, it’s simple – just leave your prediction in the comment section below using the boxes provided. Then repeat for every preview article throughout the season, making sure you always use the same email address to make your prediction. Your email is what ties you to your overall score.
You can read my prediction for the game in the comment section below.
Up The Wolves!
Must agree with you Thomas- Villa look to be well balanced, better organised and carrying a greater goal threat since Emery’s appointment.
Whilst there are injury questions regarding several of their starters for tomorrow, we must have walking wounded too following the assaults dished out by United.
Other teams at the bottom look to be up for a scrap to survive so every point now is vital. I like your line-up and whilst Adama can get us up the pitch quickly, he and the other forwards must be prepared to shoot more often. Jimenez must also feature more for he is a proven scorer if he can regain the necessary mental and physical focus. A point tomorrow would be immense and I would never predict a loss but we won’t achieve regular wins until we sort out the RB problems.
Well mate JLo has left 4 of your first choices on the bench.
Even so with a strong bench I think we can get a draw.
COMBs!
The joys of being a wolves fan.
We played much more like a team against UTD so lets hope for more improvement, Kilman looked like he could defend again for the first time this season
I’m hoping Wolves win but scoring goals is a real problem we just don’t look as if we can I would take a point but being the optimist a -1 win.
Villa looked decent in the second half against Liverpool and the whole game against Spurs. This won’t be easy but we need to fight and get it done.
Fully agree that B. Trarore must come in for Moutinho. In all of the years that Moutinho has played for us he has only scored two or three goals, and therin lies part (not all) of the problem. Cunha must start!
Our good teamwork and work ethic must continue to improve, as must the results. The clock is ticking!
i thought that Spurs were terrible at the weekend and most decent teams going there would have got a result .
should be a tight game at Villa but it’s not a game that we can’t get something from
I’m going to be positive. 4 points out of Villa and West Ham would be fantastic.
Cunha to start and score?
Cunha has to start. There is no luxury of bedding in time. He starts scoring and creating from the off if we are to extract ourself from the mire, if not we are going down. Others may think I’m being harsh but given our predicament and the fact JL has been here six weeks, it is somewhat disappointing that we have still only got one of the players he has demanded actually in the door at this point. Time is not our friend Jeff, contrary to what you may think.
Time certainly isn’t our friend, Sutton, but it’s a fact that we are within just three points of the five teams immediately above us so,in all likelihood, the relegation threesome will come from the current bottom seven teams. Three points is of course only one win so things aren’t as dire as they might be in another season as all the teams concerned will be feeling the pressure.
Villa have clearly improved under Emre but I’d imagine that their midfield will have been weakened as a result of the injuries I saw McGinn and Luiz pick up at Tottenham. That should be at least sufficient for us to pick up a draw.
We still lack any killer instinct up front and any confidence in the right hand side of defence, so I find it difficult to be very positive until, hopefully, one or two effective signings are involved. We have good players, but, without these areas being addressed we will struggle imo. Nothing new there then…
I will go for a 1-1 draw and hope for better ; we could do it…
Villa will be a tougher game than Utd. Hope to be proved wrong, but the amount of threat they carry makes me nervous. Hope JL starts with Cunha, Traore and Ait-Nouri, as we need to be on the front foot from the first minute.
we looked ok against united
just frustrating not to finish any chances. hopefully we’re all up for it and can grind a result
Villa are at home, on form, looking good, scoring goals.
We aren’t.
There can be only one possible result.
It’s just a matter of how many we’ll win by.
That reminded me of the joke about a man who was asked a question.
He was asked, if he had to choose between his wife and a brand new top of the range sports car, what would he choose?
Petrol or Diesel?
This could go anywhere, two new managers. One New striker in the deep end, a hatrick on he’s debut maybe, then we could call him The Brazilian Doog.
Dreaming is for free.
The Brazilian Doog . Now that would be some player. Maybe the Hammers should watch out as the Doog got a hat-trick on his home debut. There again, Villa play in the same awful colours sk maybe he’ll notch three in both games. There’s dreaming for you.
One nil wolves. Come on boys!
Much as I like the idea of Cunha starting at CF, I think much depends on how much bonding has been happening at training. I would therefore not be surprised if Raul (hopefully) starts, or heaven forbid Cost. But yes, Cunha should appear before long, subbing at CF or replacing Podence if he is below par.
Other than that all is well with the above formation. You have my blessing to pass on to JLo.:)
Villa have shown some good football, with good results. We have shown some good football. So maybe time to get a good result. A draw would be good. A wing will be brilliant.
‘I had a dream’ – it was 3-2 again.
Short but simple and hopefully correct.
Wolves own the black country
Villa are a bus stop in Birmingham
We’ve got Neves
They’ve got a lot of history…..
History doesn’t win you games so
Its ours to lose…
For Clive?????
Yeah their history is mostly pre 1910. Not much since……apart from 1982 of course. What happened then ????
Sorry a bit off point but something needs to be done about Liverpool blatantly tapping up players, particularly ours. They did it with Jota, have tried it with Traore and Neves and are now completely over the top with overtures which are effectively illegal approaches to unsettle Nunes.
THIS NEEDS TO BE STOPPED.
Pjb
Its what happens when the council clear up all the bricks from the streets.
Can’t get the cars up on anything so they revert to nicking players.
The buggers!
What approaches PJB? Are you reading something that’s old hat? If they think that Nunes might be the answer to their problems then they are living in cloud cuckoo land. If anyone could stump up anywhere near what we paid for him, I’d take it yesterday and use it to acquire a much more premier league ready midfielder such as Ambarat at Fiorentina.
Point of principle Hind Sight. On what we’ve seen so far I don’t disagree, but if he’s only here “on loan” he’s not going to want any nasty injuries before Jorge has collected his double commission for two transfers (plus of course two signing on fees for the player). And don’t forget Fosun are are taking their 25% share of Gestitute profit.
Indeed, There was an article about Liverpool’s situation the other day that claimed that Nunes is at Wolves only to get a feel for the Pl, before going by prior arrangement of Jorge Mendes to Liverpool in the summer.
It’s all over the scouse press – both serious like the Liverpool Echo. plus the “This is Anfield”, etc. etc. Also widespread in the national press and wherever you look the story is exactly the same – Nunes will sign for Liverpool in the summer.
Whether this is being put about by Liverpool, Mendes or both if this happens Mendes is using us as feeder club for LFC. And if this is indeed so we’re really all wasting our time. Perhaps they could take Guedes instead ha, ha, ha.
Not sure how well JL will respond to this scenario but cant see him being too pleased.
First game I ever saw was when my Dad took me on the bus to Villa Park and got me right down next to the pitch …Spurs team had Gilzean Mackay and Greaves,,,,can’t remember the result but I’ll never forget the sounds and the smells of tobacco smoke BO etc.
Then we went to the Mol and I knew right away why the Wolves were our team
We’ve done OK at the Villa of late, including the smash and grab last season. I have fond memories of our 0-1 win there when Houllier substituted Albrighton and the Villa fans sang ” you don’t know what you’re doing” and the Wolves fans joined in too. Happy days.
Meantime ….well they will expect to taunt us tomorrow but I sense we can hold our own and I’ll take a draw thank you
Have to start Traore as he never enjoyed his time with them and I thought he looked like JLo had already made a difference when he came on vs Manure
Villa looking good and can’t see us scoring more than one.
I think in the early days of J Lo we are going to have to expect a bit of inconsistency as he grapples with his line up and solving issues. But we need to keep on nicking the odd win here and there. I think if we got 12 points from the next 10 games ( some of these are very winnable. Some not so) this would see us on 25 points from 27 games and very much in the mix to escape relegation. Leaving 11 games to get something in the region of another 13 points . Hopefully as time goes on and with a few additions we become stronger and more consistent. For now it’s all about hanging in there. As for Villa. I would take a draw. And a festive /new year return of 4 points from Everton/Man U/ Villa would be good stuff. So. VILE 1 WWFC 1.
Well our local opposition here have played the same number of games as ourselves – 17. However, while both sides have very similar defensive records, having conceded 25 and 26 goals respectively, the goals for column highlights the difference between them. We’ve only managed 10 goals scored so far, while Villa have scored practically double that amount – 19!
So while our performance against Manure at Molineux was a significant improvement, we still came up short because of our weakness when it comes to hitting the back of the net.
Add the that the fact that while our new manager shows promise, it’s also the case that Villa’s form has been very positive since the appointment of Emery.
So on balance my prediction has to reflect the likelihood of a further negative outcome I’m afraid.
Anyway. We drew 1-1 at Brentford. Liverpool lost 3-1. So this means we are better than Liverpool!!! Onwards and upwards. OODCL.
We are doomed……..there’s no backbone to this team no structure we don’t play as a team the new manager bounce is over he will be gone at the end of the season as we slide into the Championship……!
This has been coming over the last two seasons because of lack of investment and what was available spent badly the prime example being Fabio Siliva it’s ironic because we are not scoring goals yet we splashed out £38 million on a kid.
The recruitment over the last two years has been the reason why we are where we are today.
Funny ay it Doomed. Everton and Leicester both losing. Doomed.
Another new pseudonym it seems but same old tripe.
Probably got 6 fingers and married to his sister.
You know what it’s like down the A 41 when you get past Bilston.
DOOMED. Bournemouth losing. DOOMED!
Tie for me since both teams are looking half decent. The real game will be West Ham.
Come on Brighton, Fulham and, I hate to say it, Man U. Nice to see you all win tonight to give us a filip for tomorrow.
I like your team Thomas and I also think we have to start with our best 11. No good bringing them on when we are losing. So Cunha must start down the middle with Podence and Traore on the wings. We have to get at Villa from the start and rattle the crowd. A point will be a good result.
Fingers crossed we can get something here. Cunha, Adama and Danny P to start.
We can but hope…..
.
Everton 0 Brighton 4. Everton home form will keep them up.
Get Coady back. Now.
After tonight’s result? :-/
I was being ironic. Doesn’t always come across .
:-)) I get you COD…
*thumbs up*
He was thrilled to join Everton; he doesn’t want to come back.
.
Well what a great set of results for us tonight
Let’s see if JL and his merry men are up for the fight
Over to you JL
The repercussions of Everton’s result could be dynamite for us and a possibility that Coady would prefer to come back to us especially if the offer was good enough
Wonder if there’s a clause dealing with Everton’s relegation?
Need to dig deep and scratch out a win.
I like Thomas’s pick of the team. We have to stuff Villa… 2-0 for me.
Keep going forwards…not backwards ‘cos the goal mouth we need ain’t there.
Fed up going to away games and losing (missed Everton!).
It’s a long journey back afterwards. At least Villa is close. Still hoping the team will gel so ….
After more than 10m games with Costa up front we are still not picking the timing of his runs or finding him with crosses.
So it is hard to expect that after just a few days we will be able to provide Cunha with anything much to work from.
10 games.
Not 10 million games! (Even if it may have taken that long to get him the ball)
He was on the pitch at the wrong time – we could have done with Costa in the box when we had that flurry of corners at the end.
But maybe Cunha will be able to run around just that little bit more and with pace too.
It kind of is a Darby so I’d expect a tight affair.
Probably too soon for Cunha to start so I’d expect him to be added to what is becoming our rather impressive looking bench.
A hard one to call. They’re in good form and are dangerous up front, everything we’re not really. They’re not the finished article by any means, however. This is an opportunity for us.
For the first time in ages, fivethirtyeight is predicting we’ll finish outside the bottom 3:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/soccer-predictions/premier-league/
I noticed on MOTD2, the resident pundits, when predicting who would finish where come May, had Wolves nowhere to be seen in the relegation candidates. Perhaps including us would have meant mentioning us, and we know they can’t abide doing that.
Fully agree. The pundits come over as an old boys club making silly asides when we are looking for professional input.
Is it too much to ask for both sides in a game to be analysed with both good and bad aspects of play highlighted?
Not in my lifetime.
Stop being sensible Woodend.
The games we have to win, most importantly, are those against the teams around us. Unfortunately, the vile aren’t currently in that category but any game against local rivals has an air of ‘must win’ about it and three points in this would be both a boost and a statement.
Senor Cunha will probably start on the bench but I feel his arrival will be another lift for the squad. If he can stick a few in the onion bag he will lift our league position too.
They are flying at the moment, but when you are playing against Mings, there’s always hope.
Hopefully we’ll get all 3 points. Could use em.
Hopefully Cunha can help towards us looking more of a threat as although there were some improvements against United we were still pretty toothless. Nervous about tonight Villa are in decent form under the new coach
I’ll take a draw now.
Encouraging signs from the last two matches. Nicely taken goals against the toffees and a more resilient defence just failing to keep out Man U thanks to Rashford’s excellent goal. If we can combine these two ingredients then we will start to scare other teams.
Villa though look up for it at the moment and we still have work to do. We also have several other distractions in the form of upcoming cup games and the Hammers game. So I fear that Villa might take advantage and run riot.
Must win game for me
Midfield must be forward thinking in support of who ever gets the vote up front
On another point ….. transfer window …… go and get McGuire from Man Utd … can’t get a game there and would be an upgrade and go back to playing back 3 ?????
I agree Thomas, it’s a big fortnight ahead. Tonight is arguably the least important game of the four, but it’d be a galling one to lose. Given Villa’s current form and marked improvement under Emery, I’d be delighted with a point – that would give us something to build on going into the Liverpool and Forest games. A positive result in either or, dare I say it, both of those would mean we’d be facing an out-of-sorts West Ham with a spring in our step. Win that and I can see a positive end to the season, provided new recruitments of Cunha’s ilk arrive this month.
On the subject of Cunha, I think it’s a no-brainer to put him in from the start. Costa is miles off it and so is Jimenez, and Hwang continues to offer lit but endeavour up top. Fingers crossed he can help on the goalscoring front because that’s our major Achilles heel at the moment.
UTW!
Last few minutes winner
This, for me, is where .. ‘it’s the expectation that kills you’ kicks in.
A win tonight and with results of other games going our way .. could see us up to 15th …!!!
There’s definite improvement in the team… fitness, attitude, desire and organisation..… and with Cunha being added to the squad… it’s bubbling nicely to ..GO FOR IT..
Mings is always good for a gaffe or two and I’m hoping our Brazilian DOOG can stick a couple of gifts into that framework called Goals.
Keep Watkins and Ings quiet and we’ll win…
Dreaming’s for free ..
Another poor showing is on the cards I fear…
Just watched ‘ the Coog ‘ in training ..he looks great !
On my way to Villa park in a minute, feeling positive
It was a greatly improved performance against Man U with basically Bruno’s team. Trouble is, JL has only brought Cunha in so far, so still 90% Bruno’s team. Costa tries but he’s lost that sharpness. Raul is said to lack match sharpness, but Mexico played him. I’m banking on a continual improvement based on JL’s coaching but I can’t see us zooming up the table without improvement both in scoring and in keeping it tight at the back. Against a resurgent Villa, 1-1 would be a good result.
\_(?)_/¯
I agree mostly with your team Thomas. I like the two Troares on the RHS. Give Joao a break. I’d play Bueno for first half swapped with RAN after half time. Nunes has to perform as he’s now being courted by Klopp. Best we can hope for is a draw. Remember they have a score to settle after last season and if they get flying we’ll leak three goals easy. We just need VAR and the ref on our side for a change.
Now that hesgoal ,reddit and first row sports have been block from streaming
Premier league, any one got any suggestions for other streaming sites that can still be use .
https://streambible.org/matches/football/
Works for me but might be wise to have a decent firewall and Very Good antivirus softwareor VPN
Villa are on a good run but all good runs come to an end, hard to call this one (there all hard in my case) so hopefully we continue to improve and villa come crashing down to earth
I’d take a draw from this one. Enough to maintain the momentum from the last two improved performance into the crucial game against West Ham. Defeat isn’t the end of the world but the performance is key. Would be nice to be the derby day team over turning the form book after so many poor derby showings recently.
I nearly choked on my cheese sandwich about 5pm on BBC 5 live sport bulletin. We actually got a mention as a fixture and there was even a clip of J Lo talking about it. What’s more Chris Sutton says a 1 – 1 draw tonight. And he normally says we lose. So expect a 5-4 victory!
We’re 1-0 up at half time and playing like Brazil c.1970. Danny P has limped off but there’s no reason we can’t go on and shaft the Villans.
1 lv & COYW.
Great result. Said 1-1. Loads to get exited about under J Lo. So Everton away. Manure home. Villa away. Would have took 4 points . OODCL.
And MOTD can fuck off. Boring mid table cockney derby. Nothing matches Leeds and Southampton. Oh. And a big West Midlands derby. Last again.is there summat wrong in their heads ?
A good performance. Everyone did their best. There looks to be sufficient talent showing it’s face in the team for me to give us a 60/40 chance of remaining in the premiership come the end of the season
I definitely would not have been saying that 2 months ago
COYW
Now averaging 1.33 points per game under J Lo. Continue that over 20 games left and we are looking at 40/41 points. The messiah is here!
I was encouraged by what I saw at the game last night. We completely dominated the first 55 minutes but after that , in fairness, it was all Villa. Another point just about keeps us on track but in our dire situation we need to put a few wins in the mix soon. So far so good for JL, he has done ok.