BIRMINGHAM (Reuters) -Aston Villa denied Wolverhampton Wanderers their first victory in the Premier League this season after they came from behind to win their West Midlands derby 3-1 at Villa Park with two late goals on Saturday.
Matheus Cunha gave Wolves hope of overcoming their winless start to the season but three second-half goals from Villa leaves the visitors joint-bottom with Everton while Unai Emery’s side are third with 12 points.
A debate has raged on about whether Emery should start Ollie Watkins or Jhon Duran — or both together. But it was Watkins who scored the equaliser before Duran gave them a two-goal cushion with his fourth strike as a substitute this season.
“It shows the character and the togetherness we have here. We knew we were not good enough in the first half. We came out firing in the second half and punished them,” Ezri Konsa, who gave Villa the lead, told BBC.
After a lively start, Wolves took the lead when Matheus Cunha anticipated a pass from Diego Carlos and timed his run to perfection to nick the ball and skip past a challenge before shooting from outside the box to beat Emi Martinez in goal.
While Villa looked lethargic after their midweek Champions League win away at Young Boys, Wolves played on the front foot and their players were lining up to shoot but Martinez came to the home side’s rescue with smart saves.
At the other end, Wolves keeper Sam Johnstone was hardly called into action as Villa went into the break without a shot on target.
But Villa stepped up the pressure in the second half to peg Wolves back and it finally paid off when they levelled the game in the 73rd minute.
A scrap for the ball outside Wolves’ box saw it fall to Morgan Rogers and he immediately released Watkins into the box where the English striker’s shot deflected off Craig Dawson to beat the keeper for his third goal of the season.
“We want to win matches easier than we did… We were suffering in the first half but the second half was completely different,” Emery said.
“I’m very happy because we won. It was very important we changed our energy and we played to win in the second half.”
The goal put a spring in Villa’s step and the winner came in the 88th minute when Youri Tielemans put in a delightful cross to the far post where Konsa fired home to bring the home crowd to their feet.
With the three points sealed and 13 minutes added on to account for an earlier injury to Yerson Mosquera, Villa added a third on a counter-attack when Rogers claimed his second assist by finding Duran unmarked in the box for an easy tap-in.
“He’s (Duran) a big talent. We see it every day in training. It’s important for him to stay humble and we’ll help him do that. He’s still young,” Konsa said.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Pritha Sarkar)
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