Wolves put in their best performance of the season against Aston Villa last time out.
Despite being the game’s underdogs, Wolves beat Aston Villa 2-0 and took all three points away from the Midlands Derby and boosted their chances of Premier League survival.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 16 |  EvertonEverton | 23 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 23 | 28 | -5 | 26 |
| 17 |  WolvesWolves | 24 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 34 | 52 | -18 | 19 |
| 18 |  LeicesterLeicester | 24 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 25 | 53 | -28 | 17 |
The Old Gold’s victory was made even more impressive by Vitor Pereira’s lack of options, particularly in midfield.
Joao Gomes was suspended after being sent off against Arsenal, Boubacar Traore was unavailable due to illness, and Liam Keen believes the Wolves manager’s decision to overlook one player wouldn’t have gone down well.
Tommy Doyle furious to not start against Aston Villa
Tommy Doyle was named among Pereira’s substitutes for Saturday’s Midlands Derby.
The 23-year-old did make a brief appearance after being brought on for Rayan Ait-Nouri for the final 17 minutes but Nathan Judah feels the midfielder would’ve been disappointed to see Jean-Ricner Bellegarde start ahead of him.
“To see someone like Bellegarde, who struggled previously, who’s come in and done a great job so he’s got an even harder task of getting back into this side sooner rather than later,” he said on The Keen and Judah Show.
“In terms of being preferred, Doyle probably has a little bit of work to do to get back into Pereira’s thoughts of a starting spot.”
Agreeing that Pereira’s decision is a very telling one for Doyle, Keen added: “It’s because he was overlooked, and that’s why it becomes a topic of discussion for us both.”
“He’ll be absolutely furious to see Joao Gomes suspended and with Mario Lemina not available and see Bellegarde come in. If Lemina is there and available, Doyle won’t be happy but he can say: ‘Okay, I understand why I’ve been left out here’, but for Lemina not to be there, for Boubacar Traore not to be there and Bellegarde still to be picked ahead of him, it’s a pretty damning indictment for a player that is desperate to play.
“So he won’t be happy with that and I think it’s a real sad moment really for a player who I think is good enough but at the moment Pereira is not quite happy.”
Doyle has never shown any signs of unprofessional behaviour, so there will be expectations for him to get his head down and prove his critics wrong.
Work to be done
Even though Doyle has started in just three Premier League games this season, there is hope he will be awarded more opportunities to impress.
Still young and under contract until at least 2028, Doyle is in no danger of leaving Molineux any time soon, and judging by Pereira’s willingness to introduce him against Villa, albeit late on, suggests the Portuguese boss still values him.
Saturday’s FA Cup Fourth Round tie against Blackburn could see Doyle feature again. Pereira won’t want to overstretch his squad and take unnecessary risks ahead of two massive league fixtures against Liverpool and Bournemouth.
Unfortunately for Doyle against Villa, his manager’s decision to start Bellegarde was one that paid off. The Frenchman was excellent in place of Joao Gomes and even got a goal to prove it.