Wolves 0 Aston Villa 1: El-Ghazi’s late penalty breaks Wolves’ hearts as two sent off in ill-tempered Midlands derby
ANWAR EL GHAZI’S late penalty broke Wolves’ hearts on an ill-tempered afternoon at Molineux. Ref Mike Dean dished out NINE yellows and two red cards as the game exploded into life late on. Only Arsenal and the bottom three have managed fewer than the 11 Premier League goals scored by Nuno Espirito Santo’s team this […]
ANWAR EL GHAZI’S late penalty broke Wolves’ hearts on an ill-tempered afternoon at Molineux.
Ref Mike Dean dished out NINE yellows and two red cards as the game exploded into life late on.
Only Arsenal and the bottom three have managed fewer than the 11 Premier League goals scored by Nuno Espirito Santo’s team this season.
And without sidelined striker Raul Jimenez – who thanked fans for their £20k banner before the game – they simply didn’t have the finishing touch needed to break down their Midlands rivals.
And even the 85th minute dismissal of Douglas Luiz for a second yellow card couldn’t turn the match in Wolvers’ favour.
Instead, Villa snatched victory from the jaws of a draw in the 85th minute when John McGinn was hauled down by Nelson Semedo and Dean pointed to the spot in the 85th minute.
El Ghazi made no mistake as he stepped up to smash the penalty into the bottom right corner.
Joao Moutinho was also given his marching orders in the fifth minute of stoppage time when he was also shown a second yellow.
From the off, Villa were clearly worried by the electric pace of Adama Traore and doubled up on the Spanish winger as soon as he threatened to go one of his trademark runs.
Yet it still didn’t stop him from going past Jack Grealish and Matt Targett to deliver a cross which Daniel Podence was unable to meet with enough power.
Aston Villa have an injury-time winner!
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) December 12, 2020
The visitors, down to 10 men, have secure the three points from the spot!
EL Ghazi as cool as you like… pic.twitter.com/fi1rr3KV8E
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And Traore wasn’t Wolves only source of danger as Nuno’s team tried to improve on their miserable strike record.
They could have been ahead after 13 minutes if Daniel Podence had shown a bit more determination to reach Pedro Neto’s cross ahead of Emiliano Martinez.
But the Portuguese lightweight clearly didn’t fancy a full-on collision with the Villa keeper, who wasn’t impressed by Podence leaving his foot in after he had already collected the ball.
Douglas Luiz picked up his first yellow for tripping Fabio Silva when the teenage striker launched a promising counter-attack.
Podence and Grealish seemed to be having a private competition as to which of them could hit the deck most often.
Villa’s main man might be the most sinned against player in the Premier League but is in danger of gaining a reputation of looking for a free-kick every time he takes possession.
At one point in a fractious first-half he even squared up to muscle-man Traore before quickly thinking the better of it.
With neither team able to establish any kind of rhythm, it was 32 minutes before the game’s first meaningful attempt on goal when Ezri Konsa headed narrowly wide from Matt Cash’s monstrous throw.
Podence drew the first save of the afternoon with a fierce low shot which required a strong hand from Martinez.
And the Villa keeper was quickly back in action to parry a first-time effort from Leander Dendoncker before Tyrone Mings dived in to tidy up.
But it was Wolves who came closest to breaking the deadlock midway through the second-half when Fabio Silva struck the base of a post following more good approach play by Podence.
Before Villa’s dramatic smash and grab after the game seemed destined to finish goalless.
