Aston Villa blogger Matthew Turvey believes his club can kick on if they take the spoils from the first West Midlands derby of the Premier League season, at home to Wolves.

So the first West Midlands derby of the Premier League season is upon us.

And if you were to say to me before the season started that Aston Villa versus Wolves would be a top of the table clash, I probably would have laughed.

Not because I thought that we couldn’t be high up, given our early fixtures, but because Wolves aren’t used to the heady heights.

I, obviously, fully expect to get comments below from Wolves fan arguing their case and that is totally understandable. We are, after all, rivals.

Anyway, enough waffle regarding the positioning of where we are in the table. It’s early days and often the team top at Christmas doesn’t win the title, let alone the team top at the start of game three.

Therefore it’s probably best to focus on the game itself, rather than how it is going to affect the end of the campaign.

Villa meet Wolves at a time where both clubs are seemingly performing more effectively than last season.

With Villa avoiding relegation two games from the end of the campaign and Wolves only managing it on the last day, arguably the only way was up for both teams, when you consider that the promoted teams are always the favourites for returning back to the Championship.

The match itself could go any one of any number of ways. On one hand, Wolves did well in this fixture last season, beating Villa. On the other, Villa seem different under McLeish.

How exactly they are different is something of a je ne sais quoi but I feel that Villa will perform well under McLeish. This season may not be the one where we re-qualify for Europe, but it will be step in the right direction.

Anyway, I digress again. I expect Villa to retain confidence in our 4-2-3-1 formation with many players performing effectively in the role.

In deploying such a formation, McLeish quickly rubbished the idea that he can only play defensive football and, effectively, admitted that the only reason he did such a thing with Birmingham was because that was all they were capable of. You can only do so much with what you are given, after all.

With regard to the tactics, some of the selections seemed bizarre at the time of initiating 4-2-3-1 under McLeish, so one can only applaud the fact that Alex has Gabby Agbonlahor playing well, albeit in a strange position.

Anything that helps our longest-serving player can only help to reinforce the loyalty of younger stars coming through. Sometimes the best moves aren’t always the most obvious ones.

As for selections, most had expected Marc Albrighton to just step directly into the right wing position, but I am glad he hasn’t.

By that, I don’t mean that I don’t rate Albrighton, just that a talent such as he should be able to have time to develop.

Sometimes the worst thing you can do for a young player is shove them into the limelight. It isn’t like we don’t have past form for high expectations from our kids either.

This weight on their shoulders has taken toll on them and many have faded away before really getting going.

If we can progress our future starts slowly, then we will have a better chance of forging a better team for Villa in the long term. Patience, once again, is a virtue.

Should we work hard for the 90 minutes, I believe we are capable of getting a win. The game is certainly winnable and it could be the start of a period where we are in the top six.

At least for the next few months, anyway.

You can also follow Villa blogger Matthew Turvey at his own site, http://www.astonvillalife.com.