Unai Emery shares key reasons to be fearful of Wolves ahead of Aston Villa clash

The odds are stacked against Wolves securing a result against Aston Villa on Saturday but Unai Emery has highlighted reasons to be fearful of their opponents.

Wolves can ill afford to feel sorry for themselves after a tough start to the season ahead of their showdown with rivals Aston Villa.

The Wanderers were perhaps unfortunate to lose 2-1 against Newcastle on Sunday as two long-range screamers from Fabian Schar and Harvey Barnes turned the game on its head late on.

As such, Paul Merson believes Wolves have been ‘unlucky’ this season but that doesn’t alter the position they’re in after taking a point from their opening four games.

Despite their poor run of form and the unenviable task of facing Villa away from home, Unai Emery has still highlighted reasons for his side to be fearful.

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Unai Emery praises Wolves ahead of Aston Villa test

Emery is one of the most talented managers on the planet and the job he’s done at Aston Villa is unbelievable.

When he arrived in Birmingham in October 2022, the Villans were fighting for their lives towards the bottom but Emery masterminded a seventh-place finish.

The Spaniard then went one better in the following campaign as they qualified for the Champions League, beginning their campaign with a 3-0 win over Young Boys on Tuesday.

Aston Villa are in a position Wolves can only dream of but that doesn’t mean Emery allows complacency to slip into his thinking, as he believes Saturday’s match will be tough for his side.

He touched on Wolves’ strong record against the league’s top six last term, with Gary O’Neil’s men securing wins over Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham.

“My own experience in the Premier League is that every match is very difficult,” Emery said via Birmingham Live.

“You have to respect every team and if you want to win then you have to focus and be demanding yourself. The first objective in every match we are facing is to have respect.

“They have a good coach, a good team, good players. They are very competitive. They beat last year away Chelsea and Tottenham. They played very well against us here and competed well. It is the same coach. They played very well against Nottingham Forest and even losing they deserved more against Newcastle.”

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How Wolves can upset Aston Villa

Coming into this match, it’s difficult to see anything other than a home win, with Paul Merson and Chris Sutton both predicting Wolves to lose.

That said, there are reasons to be confident of O’Neil’s men pulling off an upset.

Wolves have the upper hand in recent meetings, with the Wanderers tasting just three defeats from their last 10 matches in this fixture.

It’s a record that doesn’t hold much weight currently but recent form can often go out of the window in a derby match and the visitors have to erase previous defeats from their minds.

Wolves will also have watched Everton score twice at Villa Park before losing 3-2 while Leicester and West Ham both had their moments in defeats to Aston Villa.

It shows that there are some weaknesses O’Neil can exploit on Saturday, particularly in defence, where the Wanderers will aim to counter at speed to catch the hosts’ high line out.