FIGHT BACK
Wolves 2 Aston Villa 0: Hosts out of relegation zone with huge Midlands derby win in blow to Unai Emery’s top-four hopes
Aston Villa were dealt a major blow shortly after losing Jhon Duran
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UNAI EMERY will be even more desperate to land Marcus Rashford after his side drew a blank at lowly Wolves.
Villa might be £70million richer this weekend following the sale of Jhon Duran to Al-Nassr.
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But it was Vitor Pereira's men who cashed in as Jean-Ricner Bellegarde gave them a first-half lead before Villa target Matheus Cunha finished the job seven minutes into stoppage time.
How Emery must wish Wolves would do business and let him have his brilliant Brazilian!
When Ollie Watkins limped off at half-time following a clash with Jose Sa, and never returned, it would usually have been the cue to send on super-sub Duran.
But the Colombian was already counting his dosh in Saudi Arabia following his £70m transfer and, without their talismanic back-up striker, Villa blanked out.
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Meanwhile Wolves were left to celebrate a crucial and deserved win which lifted them out of the relegation zone, two points clear of Leicester.
Emery hadn't lost a Premier League match against a team in the drop zone in 18 matches with Villa.
But it wasn't long before that record looked in jeopardy as Wolves made an early breakthrough after 12 minutes.
It was a classy move which belied their lowly league position as they moved the ball around with precision and pace.
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Cunha fed Goncalo Guedes and he squared the ball to Pablo Sarabia who threaded a neat ball in behind the Villa backline.
Bellegarde made a darting diagonal run on the blindside of Boubacar Kamara and found himself with just Emi Martinez to beat.
Man Utd and Arsenal in Matheus Cunha transfer battle with Wolves star ready to make summer move
It would have been so easy for Bellegarde to panic or look to pass the buck.
However, he lashed the ball right-footed beyond Martinez from nine yards to send Molineux wild.
It was the perfect way for Bellegarde to mark his 50th appearance for Wolves as he bagged his first goal at Molineux.
And it exposed the fragility of Villa's makeshift defence which saw new £6m Spanish right-back Andres Garcia team up with stop-gap centre-half Kamara for the first time.
Injuries to Tyrone Mings and Pau Torres, and Diego Carlos' departure to Fenerbahce, had left Emery scrambling for defensive options.
And though Kamara had been a stand-out stand-in against Celtic on Wednesday, the big Frenchman was caught napping and failed to scan his area or spot the threat of Bellegarde's well-timed run.
Villa tried to fight back
That goal appeared to knock the stuffing out of Villa, who had started brightly enough.
Garcia swept over a raking cross from the right and Nelson Semedo did well to get a vital header in front of Ollie Watkins, who was waiting to pounce at the back post.
Lucas Digne worked the resulting corner short to Youri Tielemans who crashed in a shot which Sarabia managed to get his head to and deflect for another corner.
But Wolves' goal gave them something to hold onto and Villa became desperate and there were bookings for John McGinn for stamping on Rayan Ait-Nouri's toes and Morgan Rogers for pulling down Toti.
Sarabia then completed a hat-trick of yellow cards when he was booked for sarcastically applauding the assistant ref for flagging him offside.
Villa were looking more ragged than a tramp's vest and Kamara wasn't having as enjoyable a night as he had against Celtic.
Ollie Watkins injured
Wolves almost capitalised on his naivety when Cunha chased down a through ball and ragdolled Kamara to burst through on goal.
However, Martinez denied him with a brilliant diving save and when the ball broke to Guedes he fired inches wide from 20 yards.
Villa were wobbling and Kamara had to stretch to head over a wicked delivery from a Sarabia free-kick before Guedes fired wide with only Martinez to beat.
The half ended when Martinez sprinted off his line to brilliantly block Guedes who was through on goal again.
Emery had seen enough and made four changes at the break.
Worryingly for Villa one of those was the departure of Watkins, who picked up a knock in a first-half clash with Sa and didn't appear for the second half.
Villa denied equaliser
Emery thought his changes had paid off when Villa appeared to pull level after 53 minutes from a slick free-kick.
Leon Bailey disguised a pass to McGinn on the left and the Scot delivered a low centre which sub Donyell Malen bundled in at the back post.
However specialist VAR Matt Donohue stepped in and judged that Rogers had come from an offside position to block off Semedo - and despite minimal contact - the goal was chalked off.
Moments later it was Wolves' turn to curse VAR when Malen appeared to clip Toti's heel to send him sprawling in the Villa box.
But Donohue ruled that no offence had taken place to Wolves' bewilderment.
Villa had rallied but Wolves were fighting for their lives.
They were given some light relief when a substitute board cock-up saw Guedes go off - then reappear from the dug-out again - when it was realised Ait-Nouri was actually the player supposed to be subbed!
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That wasted three minutes to Emery's frustration and his mood didn't improve when Sa got down well to beat out a fierce 20-yarder from Malen.
Then Tielemans blazed wildly over following a corner.
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