Wolves travel to Aston Villa in the Premier League this evening – and one player’s performance will be particularly crucial.
Wolves are looking to bounce back from their FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Coventry City when they take on Aston Villa in the Premier League this evening.
Gary O’Neil‘s men have had two weeks to reflect on that disappointing loss, which denied them a trip to Wembley to take on Manchester United in the semi-finals.
Currently three points adrift of seventh place West Ham, their focus is now on qualifying for Europe, although a daunting task awaits against Champions League-chasing Aston Villa.
The Villans are particularly strong at Villa Park, with only Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City accumulating more points on home soil.
Unai Emery’s side also have multiple threats across the pitch, including goalscoring machine Ollie Watkins and midfield general Douglas Luiz.
Why Joao Gomes will be vital for Wolves against Aston Villa
Fresh from starring on the international stage for Brazil, Joao Gomes earned a call-up to his national side after starring for Wolves in midfield.
Hailed as “super” by O’Neil, the 23-year-old has been incredible in the engine room, forming an indispensable partnership with Mario Lemina, while earning plaudits for his world-class tackling ability.
As highlighted by FBref, Gomes ranks in the top 1% of midfielders in Europe for tackles per 90 (3.98) and top 3% for blocks (2.07).
The Brazilian’s former coach Mauricio Souza claimed he’s among the best in the world at disarming his opponents, with the statistics certainly backing that up, as only Fulham’s Joao Palhinha (110) and Sheffield United’s Vini Souza (105) have made more tackles than Gomes in the Premier League this term (83).
Joao Gomes can shutdown Douglas Luiz
Gomes will need to bring his ferocious tackling ability into the match against Villa to shutdown national teammate Douglas Luiz in midfield.
Luiz is Villa’s midfield general; almost everything positive they do in an attacking sense comes through him. He’s created the second most chances in the Villa squad (9), registered the second most shots (1.6) and accurate long balls (3.2) per game.
It’s dangerous to allow the former Manchester City man to dictate the tempo of a game, and that is where Wolves’ tackling machine can stop their threat at the source and win the battle in midfield.
If they can ruffle his feathers by marking him out of the game, the rest of O’Neil’s squad will grow in confidence and that will be vital to taking a positive result from Villa Park.