Aston Villa secured all three points this weekend after a 2-0 win over Wolves, courtesy of goals from Moussa Diaby and Ezri Konsa.
The visitors started the stronger of the two sides and had the better of the opening stages, but as Villa began to grow into the contest and get a foothold, Diaby broke the deadlock with the all-important first goal to give us an advantage.
READ MORE: What Unai Emery said in assessment of Villa’s important win vs Wolves
While we had more control in the second half and limited Wolves’ attacking threat, Konsa doubled our lead just after the hour mark, and the win puts us back in fourth place in the Premier League table, albeit Tottenham have a game in hand still.
With a busy fixture schedule in April though, we’re back in action on Wednesday night as we travel to the Etihad Stadium to face Man City, and it’s hoped that we can get another positive result to move closer towards achieving our objective of qualifying for the Champions League next season.
Emi Martinez decisive once again
For all of the stand-out displays from the outfield players and the crucial impacts made higher up the pitch, one common trend this season has been that Emiliano Martinez has produced a big moment in pretty much every single game.
His early save to deny Ait-Nouri from point-blank range was huge, as it not only kept it goalless at a time when the visitors were on top, but had that goal gone in, the atmosphere would have been negatively impacted immediately.
Instead, his crucial stop invigorated the backline to not give anything cheap away again after that, and we subsequently went on to take the lead, and as we’ve done so well all season, we protected that advantage and sealed the three points.
Diaby hitting form at the perfect time
That’s now one goal and three assists in his last four Premier League games for Diaby, while he also found the back of the net against Ajax in the second leg of our Europa Conference League round-of-16 tie earlier this month.
Although he has produced a decent return, it has been a relatively underwhelming first campaign from the 24-year-old given the expectation around his signing. However, what key players do is deliver when it’s really needed, and as we head deeper into the business end of the season, he’s doing just that.
Not only that, but it was a superb strike to open the scoring as he showed his quality, and hopefully his confidence is building and the Frenchman will go from strength to strength in the coming weeks to fire us forward.
Watkins injury scare a concern
The one sour note of the night was Ollie Watkins being replaced at half-time, with Emery later confirming that it was a hamstring issue.
While we await further tests and scans on Sunday to determine the extent of the problem, it’s hoped that it was merely precautionary and that it isn’t a significant setback, as it would be a major blow for us if the England international is sidelined for our upcoming games.
With 22 goals and 10 assists in 42 appearances so far this year, Watkins has been a talismanic presence up front for us, and while it would be an opportunity for Jhon Duran to step up and deliver in his absence, we certainly don’t want to be without our first-choice frontman for any length of time given how influential he is.
Emery changes prove crucial again
Although we were starting to control proceedings anyway and were in the ascendency, Emery’s second-half changes were perfect to see off Wolves and wrap up the victory.
While Alex Moreno was struggling, Morgan Rogers was showing positive signs but couldn’t find that decisive touch in the final third to make the difference.
Both Lucas Digne and Nicolo Zaniolo came on in the 63rd minute and as well as immediately helping us bag our second goal, we applied pressure on Wolves further up the pitch and made it difficult for them to find a way back, and our substitutions ensured the momentum in the game stayed in our favour.
Wonderful moment for Kesler-Hayden
It’s always great to see our youngsters get a chance at senior level, and the latest to have that was Kaine Kesler-Hayden, who shared a touching message after the game, as seen below.
Widely considered one of our top prospects from the more recent crop of talented young stars at the club, he got a cameo appearance off the bench in the final few minutes to make his senior Premier League debut.
With Tim Iroegbunam coming on shortly before him and with Omari Kellyman alongside them both on the bench, Emery is making room for our talented youth players to be involved with the senior squad, and it’s hoped that this proves to be the first of many appearances for Kesler-Hayden in a Villa shirt.
Since the age of 8 it’s been a dream of mine to play for this club. After 13 years step by step league by league that dream has came true a very proud moment for me and my family thank you all and a massive 3 points! 🦁 #UTV pic.twitter.com/H62IBZZ6aT
— Kaine Kesler (@KaineKeslerHayd) March 30, 2024
