Birmingham
Leander Dendoncker's second-half goal handed Wolverhampton Wanderers a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa in the English Premier League, at the Villa Park central England, here on Saturday. Wolves came out victors in a spirited Midlands derby at Villa Park to extend their unbeaten run to eight matches.
Both teams had chances with Jack Grealish working Rui Patricio and Wolves coming close before half-time when Orjan Nyland's loose throw landed invitingly for Diogo Jota, who fired over with a first-time shot.
The visitors introduced Adama Traore for Jota on 60 minutes and the substitute was involved in the breakthrough goal two minutes later.
A slick team move ended with Jonny laying the ball back for Dendoncker to score with a low finish.
A third successive win and clean sheet moves Nuno Espirito Santo's side up to fifth place on 52 points.
Villa remain 19th with 27 points.
"We performed well, in terms of possession and controlling the game, we approached it really well. They were a tough opponent to play, with very strong players. Our idea today was to control the game, getting possession from them and into our wide areas. I’m very happy," said Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo, after the match.
The disappointed Aston Villa boss Dean Smith summarising the encounter stated, "We're disappointed. It was an average game with defences on top; it looked like it would be 0-0. Mistakes happened but I thought we more-than matched a top six team and were unfortunate to lose the game".
