Dave Woodhall watches Villa beat Wolves at Villa Park.
There used to be a saying in local football – Villa beat Albion, Albion beat Blues, Blues beat Villa and everyone beats Wolves. That one’s been lost in the mists of time, not least because Wolves have picked up the annoying habit of doing well against Villa so there was a bit of apprehension around Sunday’s game, a feeling that wasn’t helped by the reasoning that Wolves have got to win eventually.
That nagging worry might have been allayed by a sight of the line-up. Ollie Watkins was finally dropped in favour of Donyell Malen and there was genuine quality throughout. Villa should have had no trouble in beating Wolves with this team. In fact, what was on the bench should have been able to beat them.
Of course, it wasn’t that simple. Another longstanding local tradition is that Wolves tend to play these games with a bit of a basic approach which is invariably unsettling and despite 
Villa hitting the post early on, it was the visitors who had the best chances. They even got the ball in the net after a quick move but that was immediately ruled out for offside. This was followed by the best keeper in the world making a great save that was followed by an even better double one as the first half came to an end.
Watkins came on for the unusually quiet Emiliano Buendia early in the second half, Pau Torres had to make a top-class interception and then midway through the half John McGinn, one of the few Villa players who were looking do something all afternoon, laid the ball off for Boubabcar Kamara.
Standing on the edge of the area with no Wolves players around and all the time in the world, Kamara was able to tee up a perfectly placed shot into the top corner. You can’t give players so much room in the Premier League and that’s why Wolves won’t be in it much longer.
Kamara was then lucky not to be seriously injured after a dangerous tackle that resulted in a yellow card while Ross Barkley was unlucky to go off in the closing stages after just thirteen minutes on the pitch, because it wouldn’t be the Villa without another casualty.
Three points, another clean sheet and up to fourth after the weekend’s events were over. Villa keep scoring goals from outside the box and while having your very own Goal of the Month competition is all well and good, we could do with a few scruffy ones to go with the scruffy wins we’ve been achieving. Certainly Wolves weren’t as bad as they have been and we weren’t as good as we can be, so it was just as well that all the quality moments throughout the match came from Villa players.
And so as the Christmas season begins we can look back on November as a good month; if we do as well in December we can really start dreaming of a happy new year.
