Top-four hopefuls Aston Villa make the short journey to Molineux to lock horns with relegation-threatened Wolverhampton Wanderers in Saturday's Premier League West Midlands derby.
The two teams meet for the first time since the end of September last year when Unai Emery's men claimed a 3-1 victory at Villa Park.
Match preview
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Since beating Manchester United 2-0 at Molineux on Boxing Day last year, Wolves have picked up just one point across their last five Premier League games, with a 2-2 draw at Tottenham Hotspur followed by four straight defeats by an aggregate score of 10-1.
It is worth noting that the Old Gold were beaten by Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Chelsea and Arsenal during this run, losing 1-0 at home to the latter last weekend in a contest that saw a player from both teams sent off - Joao Gomes was dismissed just four minutes before Riccardo Calafiori scored the decisive goal.
Vitor Pereira felt that his team "lost a big chance to win" against a Gunners side down to 10 men for the entire second half, and Wolves - who have now lost 15 Premier League matches this term - have slipped back into the relegation zone following Leicester City's surprise win at Tottenham, albeit only one point adrift of safety with 15 games still remaining to avoid the drop.
The Old Gold have already lost five successive Premier League games this season under former boss Gary O'Neil and they will endeavour to avoid another five-match losing streak when they play host to Aston Villa this weekend; the only PL team to ever lose five times in a row on multiple occasions under different managers and still avoid relegation are West Ham United in 2006-07 (Alan Pardew and Alan Curbishley).
Wolves head into Saturday's contest having lost just one of their last five home meetings with Aston Villa (W3 D1), but they must improve defensively if they wish to claim another positive result this time around, as only basement club Southampton (53) have conceded more goals than the Old Gold (52); their average of 2.26 goals against per game is their worst average in a league season since 1932-33 (96 in 42 games, 2.29).
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Taking a seat at Europe's top table this season for the first time in 41 years, Aston Villa have secured automatic qualification to the last 16 of the Champions League after beating Celtic 4-2 at Villa Park on Wednesday night.
Morgan Rogers inspired the Lions to victory with his first career hat-trick, including two goals in the opening five minutes, and although Celtic fought back with a brace from Adam Idah, the Premier League side prevailed to seal a top-eight finish in the 36-team standings.
Unai Emery hailed a "fantastic" night under the lights at Villa Park, and while he was keen to praise the club's supporters and performance of his team, the Spaniard faced multiple post-match questions over the future of forwards Jhon Duran and Ollie Watkins; the former is set to join Al-Nassr while the latter has been linked with Arsenal.
Aston Villa will now shift their attention back to the Premier League, where they currently sit eighth in the table but only four points behind the top four. After winning the reverse fixture at home against Wolves, Villa are bidding to complete their first league double over the Old Gold since 2003-04.
The Lions have impressively won 22 of the first 25 PL matches in which they have led at half time under Emery, but they have only gone on to win four of their last nine (D4 L1), including a 1-1 draw with West Ham last weekend. Nevertheless, Villa are yet to lose a top-flight fixture under Emery against a team starting the day in the relegation zone (W13 D5).
Team News
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Wolves quintet Sasa Kalajdzic, Boubacar Traore, Enso Gonzalez, Yerson Mosquera and Carlos Forbs are all sidelined with knee injuries, and Mario Lemina remains away from the first-team fold amidst uncertainty over his future, while Joao Gomes is suspended after being sent off against Arsenal.
Having now recovered from injury, Toti Gomes could be recalled to start in defence alongside Santiago Bueno and Emmanuel Agbadou, while the absence of Joao Gomes will likely see Tommy Doyle deputise in centre-midfield alongside Andre.
Jorgen Strand Larsen has emerged as a doubt after being forced off with a muscle injury against Arsenal. Either Hwang Hee-chan or Matheus Cunha - who has been linked with a transfer away from Wolves - could be tasked with leading the line if Strand Larsen is not deemed fit to start.
As for Aston Villa, Matty Cash is seemingly facing a spell on the sidelines after sustaining a calf injury against Celtic, while Tyrone Mings (knee), Pau Torres (foot), Amadou Onana (hamstring) and Ross Barkley (calf) are also in the treatment room.
Emery was unable to call upon Donyell Malen in midweek, but the January signing from Borussia Dortmund is in contention to start in attack. However, Duran is not expected to be involved, while Watkins should continue up front despite ongoing speculation about his future.
Ian Maatsen or Lamare Bogarde could be handed a start at right-back should Cash miss out, while Boubacar Kamara is poised to retain his spot in central defence next to Ezri Konsa, as Lucas Digne operates at left-back.
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Sa; Agbadou, Bueno, Toti; Semedo, Andre, Doyle, Ait-Nouri; Sarabia, Hwang; Cunha
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Maatsen, Konsa, Kamara, Digne; Tielemans, McGinn; Bailey, Rogers, Malen; Watkins
We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Aston Villa
In desperate need of a morale-boosting win to strengthen their survival hopes, Wolves will hope to take advantage of an Aston Villa side potentially lacking energy after their midweek heroics in Europe.
Emery's weakened backline could be exploited by Wolves, but the hosts have their own issues in defence and we expect the top-four chasing visitors to outscore their opponents en route to claiming all three points.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
