Wolves 1 Aston Villa 0: Toti Gomes nets only goal to put major dent in Emery’s European hopes
WOLVES hit the magical 40 points mark and made their relegation worries vanish - just like that.
Take a bow Julen Lopetegui.
The Basque boss took over the Molineux club in November with Wolves rooted to the bottom of the Premier League.
Because of the World Cup they were still there at Christmas.
But the former Real Madrid and Spain boss began to make his mark on Boxing Day when he got off to a winning start at Everton.
It's been a struggle since then but he looks down on Everton today, 11 points clear of the Toffees and 10 points clear of Nottingham Forest who have four games left.
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But it would take a minor miracle, more than mere magic for either side to overhaul Wolves now.
Lopetegui claimed his team had to play "close to perfection," to bounce back from last week's 6-0 battering at Brighton with a positive performance against Villa.
And his wounded Wolves warriors responded with pretty much the perfect start as they stormed into the lead after just 10 minutes.
Villa, who had surrendered their 10 match unbeaten run against Manchester United last week, were feeling a little bruised.
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Wolves decided to press that bruise and their pumped-up players chased their opponents down, snapping at their heels and denying them any time to piece together their passing game.
Their reward came when they seized an early lead following a corner on the right.
John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey had formed a tag-team and were wrestling in the box to try and stop Wolves' dangermen Craig Dawson and Max Kilman from making runs.
They succeeded in causing enough mayhem for the Wolves pair to land in a heap on top of each other on the turf, to the fury of Wolves fans.
But the real damage was being done elsewhere as Tyrone Mings failed to get his head onto Ruben Neves' delivery.
To his dismay Toti soared above him to power the ball in off the underside of Emi Martinez's crossbar and it bounced into the roof of the net to leave the World Cup winning goalie helpless.
It was a spectacular way for the 24-year-old left back to open his Wolves account and Diego Carlos leapt onto his broad shoulders to celebrate with him.
And it gave Wolves something to defend with their lives as they battled for the three points they had targeted to feel safe.
Villa's response was rapid and the much-criticised Jose Sa redeemed himself with a brilliant fingertip save to turn Emi Buendia's netbound half volley for a corner.
Ollie Watkins attempted an ambitious overhead kick which resulted in him receiving a whack to the face and a torn shirt.
Perhaps it left his mind a little fuzzy because he then missed a snip when he headed straight at Sa when he really should have buried the chance after Jacob Ramsey had set him up.
The game had become scrappy and there was a heavyweight bout of nonsense between Tyrone Mings and Diego Costa who both earned yellow cards.
They swiftly saw the funny side of it and kissed and made up.
But the game was descending into a dour, disjointed battle which suited Wolves down to the ground.
Cunha should have doubled his side's lead when Costa set him up with a chest pass but the Brazilian fired over.
And Villa went in at the break, miffed that a big call for a penalty was ignored after the ball deflected off Kilman and caught Nunes on the arm.
But VAR Tony Harrington decided ref Stuart Attwell had called it correctly.
Unai Emery replaced Bertrand Traore with Leon Bailey but it was Martinez who rescued his side, saving with his legs to deny Costa.
At the other end Ashley Young had a volley blocked, then flashed a shot inches wide before Watkins was booked for catching Kilman during an aerial joust.
But Villa simply couldn't break down the Wolves defence and their day was best summed up when their best chance fell to Tyrone Mings.
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Even so, the England defender will be scratching his head and wondering how he managed to volley over from five yards with the goal at his mercy after Douglas Luiz picked him out with a laser accurate free kick.
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