[ad_1]
In the first of the day’s Premier League matches, the Dutch winger The Ghazi struck from the point in injury time to elevate Villa to eighth place.
Villa had Douglas Luiz expelled in the final minutes for two cautions after the Brazilian midfielder caught Daniel Podence with an elbow. But Nelson Semedo’s foul on John McGinn He triggered El Ghazi’s penalty before Wolves midfielder Joao Moutinho was sent off for a second yellow card just minutes from full time in a hectic home derby.
After two successive defeats, Villa will wait for them to return to normal with only his second win in six games. Villa has won four of their five league games away from home this season, while Half-table wolves have only one win in their last five games.
With Raúl Jiménez out after surgery In his skull fracture against Arsenal, Wolves gave 18-year-old forward Fabio Silva their first Premier League start a club record of £ 35 million from Porto in the low season. It had been two weeks since Villa last played after Newcastle’s match was postponed due to their opponents’ coronavirus outbreak and as a result it took them a while to get going.
Villa appealed a penalty when the ball bounced off Romain Saiss’s shoulder as he leaned in to clear his head, but VAR ignored their protests.
United decline
The Wolves finished the first half strong, with Daniel Podence forcing Emiliano Martínez to save his low shot. Martinez stayed away from Leander Dendoncker’s blow and Silva nearly broke the deadlock when his header narrowly deflected.
Silva was inches from a first Premier League goal when he took a pass from Podence and ran his first shot over Martinez, only to see the ball’s barrel drift away from the post. Luiz’s missing elbow earned him a red card from Mike Dean in the 85th minute, but El Ghazi won it from the penalty spot after Semedo stopped McGinn’s blast.
Later, Solskjaer’s United will look to bounce back from their Champions League exit in the middle of the week. After a four-game winning streak in the league, the Red Devils can claim they are in pursuit of a first league title since Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 sent them into decline. But the messy nature of some of those wins, coupled with the poor defense that led to a 3-2 loss to RB Leipzig midweek, means the pressure is back on Solskjaer.
A fourth defeat in six Premier League games at Old Trafford this season could see United finish the weekend eight points behind the leaders, albeit one game short. City are one point behind United, in seventh place, but Pep Guardiola’s men appear to be in shape after recording back-to-back league wins for the first time this season.
In stark contrast to United’s struggles in the Champions League, City’s serene progress into the round of 16, with two games to spare, allowed Guardiola to put Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus in reserve for the derby. In the other matches on Saturday, Chelsea travel to Everton and Newcastle host West Bromwich Albion.
[ad_2]
