Aston Villa captain John McGinn has insisted we need to match Wolves in the physical battle early in our clash at Molineux on Sunday afternoon.
Villa go in search of a fourth consecutive Premier League win this weekend ahead of the international break, but our recent form against Wolves, coupled with their result vs Man City last time out and the quality in their side, makes this a difficult test for us.
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Villa are without a win in our previous five meetings, and we’ve lost three of those and on our last two visits to Molineux.
A developing trend in those three most recent encounters is Villa conceding early, with Toti scoring in the 9th minute in this fixture last season, Daniel Podence in the 12th minute in our home fixture, while Jonny scored in the 7th minute in the meeting at Wolves in the previous campaign.
That is clearly an issue Villa need to address on Sunday to avoid repeating the same mistakes, as it changes the complexion of the game given we want control and to dictate without having to chase it.
It’s evidently something that has been discussed this week in the build-up to the encounter, as McGinn has highlighted that as being an important factor, and it’s hoped we produce the necessary start on the pitch when the whistle goes.
“You need to win the fight first,” McGinn is quoted as saying by the Express and Star. “We’ve given ourselves far too much to do at Molineux in the past couple of seasons, letting them get a foothold in the game, losing second balls, losing tackles, and then we’re not allowed to show what we can do on the ball.
“Wolves played extremely well against Man City last week but that’s what they did: they fought for every ball and when the chances came they took them.
“We respect them massively. They’ve got a very good manager in Gary O’Neil but we’re in great form in the league and we need to carry that on.”
It’s a habit that Villa have slipped into again this season as we’ve conceded sloppy, poor goals in the early stages of games, and that gives us more to do to turn things around. While we’re good enough to adjust and come back, it’s certainly not ideal.
Further, as we saw on Thursday night, Emiliano Martinez has also made some pivotal saves early on to prevent us from going behind, and so the message is clear in terms of what we need to improve, but time will tell though if we action that when it matters.
Wolves will be a tough test, but with the quality we have in the side despite our injury problems, it’s hoped we can pick up another win to sign off on a positive start to the campaign before reflecting, regrouping and improving after the break concludes.