Wolves hold off Villa to boost European hopes

Wolves maintained their European charge after a deserved 2-1 derby win over Aston Villa moved them up to seventh in the Premier League table.

Jonny's rocket and Ashley Young's own goal earned the hosts the points at Molineux to complete the double over their West Midlands rivals.

Ollie Watkins pulled a goal back with a late penalty but Wolves held their nerve to keep the pressure on in the race for Europe.

Villa have now taken just four points from 39 against teams above them in the top flight this season, underlining both their consistency issues and fallibility against the sides they wish to emulate.

They suffered again to slip 13 points behind their rivals, who move above West Ham into seventh and sit just two points adrift of the top five.

Without the banned Raul Jimenez and injured Ruben Neves there was a sense Wolves were underdogs, but they tore into Villa to take a seventh-minute lead.

John McGinn slipped to allow Joao Moutinho to motor forward, and then Ezri Konsa stumbled trying to cut out a pass to Daniel Podence.

It allowed the forward into the area and his shot was blocked by the covering McGinn. Lucas Digne then threw himself in front of Fabio Silva's follow-up - only for the ball to fall to Jonny, who rifled into the top corner from 12 yards.

Nine minutes before the break, the hosts grabbed a second in another moment Villa will be desperate to forget.

Again they were too open, Marcal was left with too much space on the left and the Brazilian's cross was headed into his own net by Young.

It was another calamitous moment for Villa - who blew a 2-0 lead and conceded three goals in the final 10 minutes against Wolves in October to lose 3-2.

Villa at least showed more bite in the second half, and with Wolves