Image source, Getty ImagesAston Villa have now gained six points from losing positions in the Premier League this season; the t-most of any side alongside Manchester City. While Wolves have dropped six points from such positions, with only Everton (8) having dropped more.
Image source, Getty ImagesWolves boss Gary O'Neil, speaking to Match of the Day after today's loss: "The first half we played very well. No team comes here and wins at a canter. It was not like they were banging the door down. But when we need to fight we need to do it better. The lads are finding out the hard way you cannot play well for a bit.
"It’s disappointing we have come up short. That [second] goal has to be stopped as does the first goal. We need to make sure the fixtures, we have some really tough ones coming up, we need to find a way to fight and scrap.
"We’re not going to dominate games against Aston Villa and Liverpool. We need to behave and act like a team scrapping for everything. We have to make sure we are better when it gets tough."
On the injury to Yerson Mosquera, who was carried off on a stretcher: "It doesn’t look good at this moment. It’s a big blow for us."
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Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies
Eight matches make up Saturday's Premier League action, and we will bring you every moment.
All kick-off times BST
Follow all of the action and reaction here
BBC Radio 5 Live match commentaries:
Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches this season, against a variety of guests.
For week five, he takes on singer-songwriter and West Ham fan James Smith whose debut album Common People is out now.
Aston Villa host Wolves on Saturday at 15:00 BST.
Sutton's prediction: 2-0
There were some strange results that cost me last week - I was nailed on to get the exact score of Wolves versus Newcastle until Harvey Barnes smashed in Newcastle's winner late on.
Wolves hit the post too when they were 1-0 up and, although they have only picked up one point from their first four games, they have not had much luck and I still think they will end up being fine this season, even though I don't expect them to get anything here.
Villa boss Unai Emery has to find a balancing act with their Champions League campaign and any chopping and changing to his team, which is a much bigger ask than when they reached the Europa Conference League semi-finals last season.
I didn't captain Ollie Watkins in my Fantasy team last week, when he scored a double against Everton, but Jhon Duran coming on to score Villa's winner in that game shows the depth in their squad to cope.
So, I don't feel they will be affected by their win over Young Boys in Switzerland on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see how much Emery rotates his players, but I can only see a Villa win.
Smith's prediction: 2-1
I feel like Villa are going to have another really good season.
Image source, Getty ImagesEarlier, we asked you for the four players who have scored at least 20 Premier League goals for Wolves.
Raul Jimenez is Wolves' leading Premier League goalscorer, while Steven Fletcher, Ruben Neves and Hwang Hee-chan have also reached the 20-goal mark for the club in the competition.
Jonty Colman
BBC Sport journalist
Wolves boss Gary O'Neil has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Aston Villa (kick-off 15:00 BST).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
On injuries to Toti Gomes, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Boubacar Traore: "Need to check on Toti and Rayan today in training to see how they go - neither of them has done too much this week. Both have still got a bit to do. Bouba is still out [and] on crutches at the moment. He had a repair to the t surface in his knee and he will probably be out until about Christmas. "
O'Neil also confirmed that centre-back Yerson Mosquera is available this weekend.
On Goncalo Guedes' return to the side: "We just made him believe he’s got a chance if he shows something. He shows he’s willing to work and buy in and add quality. He’s had a good start to the season when you consider where he was in the group a year or so ago to where he is now. It has been a really big upturn and he looks like he can be a goal threat."
However, O'Neil also said that Guedes is not in contention to start after playing 82 minutes against Brighton in the Carabao Cup in midweek.
He is unhappy with the results so far but determined to turn them around: "I absolutely despise losing as everybody does.My job is to make sure the group is always ready for what comes next. I don’t shirk away from any of these challenges."
He understands the rollercoaster nature of a season: "I’m comfortable that the group understand well enough now that in a Premier League season, there will be some tough moments. We don’t accept them, we’re not stood here saying it is acceptable to lose games because the opposition are good. It’s not acceptable."
Meanwhile, he dismissed worries of tiredness: "The boys are good. They trained yesterday and didn’t show any signs of fatigue or having not recovered. We’re yet to train today, but I’m sure they will be bright."
The appeal of a derby game should also inspire his players: "It's one we enjoyed [last season], especially the home game was a great game [with] two teams going at it. We went away to Aston Villa late last season with a lot of injury issues but we were still able to put up a fight and we go there tomorrow looking to win. I have huge belief in the group that we can go to Aston Villa and win."
Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news here.
Can you name the four players who have scored at least 20 goals for Wolves in the Premier League?
Answer will be revealed at 17:00 BST
Image source, Getty ImagesThe issue around the footballing calendar and the demands being placed on players right now is a difficult one.
First, we need to take into consideration the really high demands on the body that go on all-year round with few breaks, especially for international footballers and those in teams competing on multiple fronts.
I know the men's and the women's games are different, but we got exposed to these issues when we went from amateur to professional. There was a lot of loading, a lot of games and the result of that was a higher risk of injury and we have seen a lot of anterior cruciate ligament injuries now in the women's game.
From the fans' side, their point is often that players get paid a lot of money but I think that is irrelevant. That is just the industry players are in and, if you take out the money, they are still human beings.
The governing bodies need to look at who they consult with about changes in the calendar such as World Cups being held in winter and summers where there is just a couple of weeks off before going straight back into it. The changes and fixtures that are put in are there to generate more money, which makes it difficult. As a business, it is about money.
We talk about mental health a lot and you wonder, where is the time to switch off and have that time away from playing? To have that family time which is a deep human need? At some point mentally, if not physically, it will take its toll.
None of us want to see players striking, but players need to be listened to. What do they need to do to make change happen?
Fara Williams was speaking to BBC Sport's Nicola Pearson
Mike Taylor
BBC Radio WM reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesEvery June, on the day the new league fixture lists are released, there are a few dreadful bores who point out that every team will play all the others twice in a roughly random order, and it doesn’t really matter all that much.
I should confess here to often having been one of those bores, but that view may need revision in the light of Wolves' current predicament.
Gary O’Neil’s opinion after the galling defeat by Newcastle - that Wolves had gone "toe to toe with a team that are going to be higher up the league than us" - attracted critical commentary from some fans who felt it was evidence of a negative mindset.
But O’Neil had said nothing but the truth, and had in the same breath pointed out his team might well have beaten a more fancied side.
However, there may be something in the words of an exceptionally disappointed captain, Mario Lemina, though we should make allowance for them being said in the moments immediately after the game when the emotion was highest.
"We need to change this losing mentality now, and get back to work and win games now.
"We fought a lot, it’s not about the performance of the players, it’s more about sometimes luck, and we didn’t have it. But we need to create more chances to have luck."
As you will have read elsewhere on this page, O’Neil suggested that the statistic adding Wolves' winless Premier League start to their poor run at the end of last season was "irrelevant".
He is right. Unfortunately, and however unfairly, Wolves - and therefore O’Neil - are destined to keep hearing those numbers until the league victories arrive to change them.
They are the sort of widely quoted numbers that sometimes cause club officials to make rash decisions, even though O’Neil is clearly building a team with potential on relatively limited resources and the fixture list handed them an unkindly demanding start.
Wolves play three Champions League teams in their next four Premier League games and feasibly could play well enough to find themselves in winning positions in any of them.
If they do, they will need to trust their luck, and hold their nerve. If they don’t manage it, it may be the leadership of the club who will have to hold theirs.
Tune into The West Midlands Football Phone-In from 18:00 on weeknights
Phil Cartwright
BBC Sport journalist
Wolves ended last season with only one win from their final 10 Premier League games and are winless in four league outings in 2024-25.
Head Coach Gary O'Neil has said it is "irrelevant" to compare the end of last season with the start of this one and, given the changes in playing personnel and formation implemented, he has a point.
But whether you look at the shorter or longer term, the statistics are far from ideal.
As with anything, context is key.
Nine of the 14 games stretching across the two seasons were against teams that finished in the top half in 2023-24, while injuries to attacking players in the closing months of last term left Wolves' already threadbare squad down to its proverbial bare bones.
Already this campaign, they have faced three of last season's top seven.
They may only be averaging one goal scored per league game this season, but there are positive signs. Mario Lemina's well-worked goal against Newcastle showed what can happen when they get it right.
According to Premier League statistics,, external seven "big chances" have not been taken - just six clubs have a higher total - and only Manchester City (four) have hit the woodwork more times than Wolves (three).
It is at the other end where the major problems have arisen. Only Everton (13) have conceded more than Wolves' tally of 11 in four games this season.
Some of those can be put down to Wolves' switch from a flexible back five to a back four, which has left them more open, but others are simply because of basic errors - Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson and Nottingham Forest's Chris Wood being left unmarked to head home from corners, for example.
Looking ahead, things do not get much easier for Wolves. Three of their next four games are against Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester City - all of whom finished in the top four last season.
It may be during a slightly kinder run of fixtures during November and December when this team will truly be judged.
