Aston Villa have strengthened their hold of fourth spot in the Premier League table with a 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The visitors were made to pay for failing to make their dominance count in the opening stages as Moussa Diaby and Ezri Konsa scored either side of half time to secure all three points for the home side.

Success for Villa saw them respond to Tottenham Hotspur's comeback victory over Luton Town earlier in the day to move back into a guaranteed Champions League spot.

Meanwhile, Wolves missed out on the chance to move into seventh spot as they lost their first West Midlands derby to Villa since December 2020.

Although the opening 20 minutes did not feature a goal, the match was not short of incident, with Villa having a strike disallowed courtesy of Ollie Watkins - who was withdrawn at half time - being a yard offside.

Aside from that opening, Wolves had the better of the game, with Tommy Doyle whipping a long-range effort marginally wide of the far post and Rayan Ait-Nouri somehow squandering a chance from six yards, with Emiliano Martinez making a save from point-blank range.

As the half progressed, Villa came more into the game and Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa had to be alert to keep out a Pau Torres header from an inswinging cross.

Moments later, the home side would go in front. After a ball into the box was only half-cleared to Diaby on the edge of the box, the Frenchman drilled a left-footed effort that flew past Sa and the defender on the line into the net.

Wolves had the better of the action after the restart, but aside from Pablo Sarabia curling a tame free kick over the crossbar, Villa did not look in danger of conceding an equaliser.

That remained the case as Wolves struggled to sustain any threat, with teenage forward Leon Chiwome feeding off scraps on his first Premier League start.

Before the game entered the final quarter, Villa doubled their advantage in rather fortuitous circumstances. Konsa's floated cross towards the back post was meant for Jhon Duran, but the ball hit the inside of the post and went over the line, Sa in no position to keep it out.

With greater breathing space, Villa began to lay siege to the Wolves goal, Sa having to keep out two half-chances, and nothing was coming back from the visitors.

Gary O'Neil recognised that the game was effectively over as a contest, choosing to withdraw Nelson Semedo and Joao Gomes with Tuesday's fixture at Burnley in mind, but substitute Matt Doherty may have done better with a header at the back post.

The nine minutes of stoppage time - a result of a technical glitch with one of the assistant's communication devices - was an inconvenience more than anything else, even though Mario Lemina headed wide from a corner and Nathan Fraser fired wide from inside the penalty area.

Nevertheless, Villa were able to celebrate a hard-earned three points as they heaped further pressure on Manchester United in the race for a minimum of fifth place, which may be enough to earn a spot in the Champions League at the end of the season. body check tags ::