Aston Villa V Wolves (12:05 Kick-Off, GMT)
It’s the first Midlands Derby of the season, and an intriguing one at that due to the fact both teams have burst out of the blocks – Villa taking four points from their first two games while Wolves are one of just three who still boast a 100% record. So it could take something out of the ordinary to separate them at Villa Park, which has invariably been where the Villains have dominated, having lost just once at home to Wolves in 21-years. That one blip occurred last season though, when Matt Jarvis’ strike ensured Mick McCarthy was the manager celebrating come the final whistle, Wolves grounding out their first ever Barclay’s Premier League win over Aston Villa at the sixth attempt, winning 1-0.
As I mentioned before, it could take something pretty special to tear these two apart. Step up Darren Bent? When you need a bit of quality in front of goal to break open the deadlock, Bent is usually your man. Ironically, that has rarely been the case for me, at least not recently. I can never seem to back to England striker when he’s hot, but I’m hoping he’s just that after netting his team’s third in last week’s 3-1 victory over Blackburn at Villa Park.
There is definitely value in some Deja-Vu, with Matt Jarvis, the Wolves winger who was on target in his side’s comfortable home win over Fulham, 11/2 to get himself on the score-sheet again in this fixture. Incidentally, you can get odds of 100/1 on Matt Jarvis opening the scoring in another 1-0 Wolves triumph!
First Goalscorer: Darren Bent @ 4/1 Bet365
To Score: Matt Jarvis @ 11/2 WilliamHill
Match Odds: Aston Villa 11/10, Draw 11/5, Wolves 12/5 (WilliamHill)
