Wolves v Aston Villa: Erratic results make Molineux showdown a difficult one to call

‘Will the real Wolves please stand up?’ was the title of this week’s Express & Star podcast and you could just as easily ask the same question of Villa, after a season where to this point results are proving impossible to predict.

Statement wins over Liverpool, Leicester and Arsenal have stood alongside underwhelming defeats to Leeds and Brighton.

Wolves are no easier to fathom. Just when it seems Nuno Espirito Santo’s men might have found some rhythm, along comes a hugely disappointing performance such as the one at Anfield last Sunday.

Tomorrow, then, may offer more clues on precisely where this campaign might be heading. At the very least, it should offer an indication of precisely where these two rivals stand in relation to each other.

The grand, long-term ambitions of both clubs cannot be disputed. This fixture is now one which pits two of the wealthiest ownership groups in English football against each other and the hope – not least among those who make a living chronicling the game in this region – is that sometime in the not-too-distant future it will take ever greater prominence on a national level.

For the past two seasons, Wolves have been the area’s standard bearers with Villa looking to make up the ground.

There is evidence which suggests they might have closed the gap. Having taken the momentum from last season’s Great Escape and been boosted by the acquisitions of Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Martinez and Ross Barkley (though the latter will miss tomorrow’s match through injury), Villa now look far more at home in the Premier League.

In Jack Grealish, they boast arguably the division’s most in-form player. Wolves, with Diogo Jota departed and Raul Jimenez lost to long-term injury, are in something of a transition.

Yet it is worth remembering Villa also travelled to Molineux at precisely the same stage of last season under similar circumstances, only to be given a sharp reality check.

Just as now, Wolves sat only two points ahead of them in the table, having won just two of their opening 11 league fixtures. The subsequent 2-1 win for Nuno’s men proved to be the moment the seasons of both clubs diverged into very different directions, Wolves toward the top half of the table and another challenge for European qualification, Villa toward the bottom and a winter of struggle. Nuno’s men will hope tomorrow’s meeting can prove a similar catalyst for his team and there is no doubt that, in recent times, facing Villa has brought out the best in Wolves.

The 2-0 win at Molineux in October 2017 is widely regarded as the first landmark result of Nuno’s reign, a night when for the first time it became clear something special might be in the offing. Last season’s opening 45 minutes at Molineux, meanwhile, was among Wolves’ most dynamic attacking displays of the campaign.

Villa, by contrast, have lost their last three visits to WV1, Dean Smith lambasting their first-half performance in last season’s defeat at the time as their worst for 11 months.

Yet Villa were also without Grealish through injury on their two most recent trips to Molineux, while tomorrow Wolves will not possess Jimenez, who caused Smith’s men countless problems in both meetings last term.

If nothing else, last weekend’s defeat at Liverpool was a reminder replacing a cog so crucial as the Mexican in the Wolves machine will be no straightforward task.

How Nuno sets up his team is the big question heading into tomorrow’s game and much as it might cause him a few headaches, it also makes things a little tricky for Smith. For three-and-a-bit seasons since Nuno arrived at Molineux, opposing managers generally knew what to expect when facing Wolves, even if they struggled to stop it.

Recent tactical tinkerings makes planning for Wolves that bit harder, Smith yesterday admitting they are currently something of an unknown quantity.

His own line-up is easier to guess and Villa’s performance levels have generally been steadier than the hosts.

Yet the results have been equally erratic and that, coupled with the absence of a derby crowd, makes this another match where the outcome is very hard to guess.