Aston Villa will be looking to continue their excellent start to the season in Saturday’s West Midlands derby clash against Wolves.
Aston Villa are unbeaten in four of their first five matches in all competitions, only tasting defeat against Arsenal in the Premier League.
The Villans are fresh from their 3-0 victory over Young Boys in the Champions League on Tuesday as Unai Emery’s men got off to a flying start.
They now host a Wolves side who have only taken a point from their first four top flight matches and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Brighton in midweek.
Despite only winning three of their last 10 matches against Wolves, the contrast in form for both teams leaves Emery’s side with confidence in securing all three points.
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Paul Merson praises Unai Emery in Aston Villa vs Wolves score prediction
Last weekend, Villa did phenomenally well to come back from two goals down to beat Everton 3-2 as Jhon Duran stole the headlines with his screamer.
Duran is one of many players who have improved so much under Emery and in his prediction for Saturday’s clash, he believes improving the fortunes of his squad is one thing the Spaniard does ‘very well’, comparing him to the likes of Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta.
Predicting Aston Villa to comfortably beat Wolves 3-1, Merson wrote in his column for Sportskeeda: “I don’t see anything but a win for Aston Villa here. I’ve been really impressed by them. Of course, they wouldn’t want to be going 2-0 down every week before they win, but what an incredible comeback in the last game against Everton. Villa followed that up with a comfortable win in the Champions League.
“Unai Emery is a good coach. What he does really well is improve the players. Just like Mikel Arteta, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, he is good at that.
Merson also touched on the Ollie Watkins and Duran debate, with the former Arsenal forward believing Watkins should still start this weekend despite the Colombian’s ‘incredible’ form.
“Villa have two brilliant strikers to rely on in Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran. Despite Duran being in incredible form, I still want Watkins to start against Wolves,” Merson wrote.
“Making an impact off the bench and starting a game are two different challenges and I feel Watkins is the better player suited for the latter. In this case, if things don’t go their way, they still have Duran to rely on from the bench.”
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Aston Villa must be wary of Wolves
While Villa have started this season strongly, they mustn’t go into this match with complacency as Wolves can pack a punch on the counter.
The Wanderers have only collected one point in the Premier League but Merson thinks they’ve been unlucky and shouldn’t be underestimated.
With Aston Villa only three of their last 10 meetings against Wolves, it’s clear they’ve struggled in this fixture previously however, on current form, not many will expect the visitors to pull off an upset.
Emery’s men should have too much for Gary O’Neil’s men, particularly in their front line, with Morgan Rogers, John McGinn, Jacob Ramsey and Watkins all wreaking havoc.
