Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Aston Villa; Sky Bet Championship
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Aston Villa. Sky Bet Championship.
MolineuxAttendance30,239.
Wolves v Aston Villa preview: Championship clash live on Sky Sports Football.
Saturday 14 October 2017 16:27, UK
Wolves have Conor Coady available to face Aston Villa after a one-match ban.
The midfielder missed the 4-0 win at Burton having been sent off at former club Sheffield United last month. Defenders Willy Boly and Ryan Bennett are still battling injuries and are unlikely to feature for Nuno Espirito Santo's side. Wolves will be hopeful Romain Saiss, Ruben Neves and Diogo Jota avoided any injuries on international duty.
Villa are likely to be without Andre Green (hamstring) and Jack Grealish (damaged kidney) for the trip to Molineux. Grealish is nearing a return after suffering the freak injury in pre-season and is yet to make an appearance for Villa this term.
Late checks will be made on Mile Jedinak (groin), Keinan Davis (hip) and Henri Lansbury (knee), with boss Steve Bruce hopeful of having the trio available. Neil Taylor remains banned after Villa failed in their appeal against his red card in the 1-0 win over Bolton last month.
Opta stats
Last season, Wolves won a home league game against Villa for the first time since May 1978 - they haven't won consecutive home games since December 1960.
This is the 107th league meeting between Wolves and Aston Villa but only the third in the second tier - the other two were last season.
Leo Bonatini is the only Championship player this season to both score and assist at least four goals (Bonatini has four goals and four assists).
Steve Bruce has taken just one point from his last five league visits to Molineux (D1 L4),with that coming in a 1-1 draw with Hull in August 2015. His last victory there was in April 2007, winning 3-2 with Birmingham.
Wolves have won promotion on the last two occasions they've won as many as seven of their opening 11 league games of a season (2008/09 in the Championship and 2013/14 in League One).
Albert Adomah has scored four goals from just five shots on target in the Championship for Aston Villa this season.
Prutton's prediction
Now this is a big game. Two teams who will be aiming for the top two, regardless of what their respective managers say, meet in the evening game on Saturday and Molineux and it should be a fascinating clash.
Villa have been on a bit of a resurgence lately, but their fixture list has been quite kind and a trip to Wolves will be a real test for them. I have to back the home side to lay down a marker.
Prutton predicts: 2-0 with Leo Bonatini to score first (28/1 with Sky Bet)