Villa stay fifth as Torres earns draw at Wolves

WOLVERHAMPTON, England: Defender Pau Torres' equaliser earned Aston Villa a 1-1 draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday (Oct 8)  that kept Unai Emery's side fifth in the Premier League table.

The in-form Hwang Hee-chan tapped home Pedro Neto's pull-back to edge Wolves in front, the South Korean's fifth goal of the season, in the 53rd minute.

Hee-chan became the first ever Wolves player to have been directly involved in a goal in five consecutive Premier League home games.

Their advantage lasted only two minutes, however, as Torres steered a cross from Ollie Watkins into the net, on the stretch, to level things up.

Even though Mario Lemina was sent off for the visitors late on after picking up two yellow cards, Villa still had chances to win it in stoppage time, but had to settle for the draw. Wolves climbed to 14th.

Lemina's second red card in English football should have given the hosts added impetus with the numerical advantage, but Ezri Konsa could have won it before Watkins struck post right at the death.

"It's a derby, I think we felt it on the pitch," Emery said. "There are a lot of Aston Villa supporters with us to make a good atmosphere.

"Scoring first they were feeling very good and it's difficult to get back in the match. In 90 minutes more or less the result was fair. We had more chances and controlled the match. They had less chances to score than us. Here to win is very difficult."

Wolves are unbeaten in their last six league games against Villa, their second longest such run against their Midlands rivals.

"I think the points return has been good for the games we have had. The fixtures were tough," Wolves boss Gary O'Neil told the BBC.

"In general, we are in a good spot points return wise. The last two games have