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Aston Villa prevailed in a fierce Midlands derby thanks to an injury time penalty by Anwar El Ghazi and several saves by Emi Martinez. Both teams finished with 10 players, as Douglas Luiz and João Moutinho were sent off in separate incidents on either side of El Ghazi’s advance, which had been introduced from the bench.
Perhaps it was ironic wit that led Molineux’s DJ to play The Who’s Teenage Wasteland in the run-up to the start, this being a match in which two players born since the turn of the century debuted in the Premier League. A clash that produced 11 yellow cards and two reds proved to be the initiation for a pair of youngsters who took very different paths towards this milestone: Villa entrusted 19-year-old academy graduate Jacob Ramsey with a spot in central midfield. . While the Wolves gave Fabio Silva a start, the 18-year-old signed in September for a club record of £ 35 million.
Silva, who had only made one league start in his native Portugal before joining the Wolves, saw himself for what he is: a highly talented player at an early stage of development. He is honing his identity, like this Wolves team, whose attempt to evolve this season has been complicated by the loss of Raúl Jiménez. Both they and their young forward showed encouraging signs here and, after an uncertain start, they could have won a very close match were it not for Villa’s goalkeeper and Nélson Semedo’s late foul on John McGinn.
The Wolves started with four defenders here for the fourth straight game, but were outscored during the first half hour by more fluid visitors, with Ramsey landing on a relatively stable side. However, Villa could not turn territorial domination into clear spaces. The closest they came to scoring in the first half was when Ezri Konsa nodded with a powerful shot from Matty Cash a few inches wide. As an irritable first half progressed, the wolves grew in threat. Silva showed his promise as a foothold from which the three attackers deployed behind him could feed, and Pedro Neto, Daniel Podence and Adama Traoré also combined with each other as they began to drive through Villa.
Tyrone Mings deflected Podence’s shot after some graceful work from Neto in the 37th minute. Then, Podence edged past McGinn before punching a 20-yard low shot that Martinez went down well to save. Three minutes later, Podence led a counterattack before Traoré crossed for Leander Dendonker, who fired for the first time from 10 straight meters at Martinez.
Villa returned to the lead in the second half. Luiz fired from the edge of the area in the 57th minute. Rui Patrício first stretched out when Luiz fed Ollie Watkins, whose shot from the left side of the box had to be parried by the goalkeeper at the near post.
Just when Villa felt blood, the wolves almost struck. As the irrepressible Podence ran into the away area, the ball ran towards Silva, who displayed predatory instincts to shoot through Konsa’s legs for the first time and beyond Martinez’s reach, only for the ball to bounce off the post. . Neto’s Magic gave Dendoncker a chance in the 80th minute, but Martinez saved the Belgian’s 10-meter volley.
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The wolves’ increased vitality inspired Silva to attempt to break the stalemate with an overhead kick, but Martinez thwarted that fairy tale ending. Luiz’s match came to an end at 85 when he was shown a second yellow card for elbowing first in an aerial challenge with Podence. But Villa continued to believe in a late turnaround and McGinn made it happen in injury time when Semedo dropped him in the area. El Ghazi, who were assigned penalty duties after Watkins missed from the spot at Fulham, sent Patrício down the wrong path to give Villa the victory.
The wolves’ misery deepened when Moutinho was sent off for a late foul on El Ghazi.
