Rúben Neves was in fine form on Sunday afternoon with a goal and a decisive role in the second as Wolverhampton Wanderers beat local rivals Aston Villa in the West Midlands derby.
Neves opened the scoring with a typically well-placed shot from the edge of the area, before winning the ball ahead of what proved the winner by Raul Jimenez. The win saw Nuno Espírito Santo’s side move up to 8th in the table and extend their unbeaten run in the Premier League to seven matches.
Nuno selected four Portuguese for the match at Molineux. Rui Patrício continued in goal, while Neves was joined in midfield by João Moutinho and Diogo Jota took his place in attack. Pedro Neto and Ruben Vinagre were on the substitutes bench, with Neto replacing Jota for the final seven minutes of normal time.
Neves got his goal five minutes before half time, finding the net for the second time this season having scored against Manchester United in August. Moutinho spotted his compatriot on the edge of the box as he lined up a free-kick in a wide area, and found Neves perfectly for the former Porto youngster to curl a shot past Villa goalkeeper Orjan Nyland to make it 1-0.
Wolves had to wait until the 84th minute for their second, with the clincher coming after Neves won possession with a firm challenge outside his own box. The ball found its way out wide to Spanish winger Adama Traore, who carried possession up field and picked out ex-Benfica striker Jimenez for the Mexican to dispatch calmly. Trezeguet registered an injury-time consolation for Villa.
“Proud of the boys”
Speaking after the match, Nuno expressed his delight with Wolves’ performance during what has been a congested fixture list. “Most important was the performance,” he said. “We dominated, the first-half was very good play. We played really, really well. We achieved a goal late, we had a lot of chances, breaking on the counter, we had clear moments where we could harm Villa.
“Second-half Villa took more control of the game, created some problems, we had to adjust, but the better chances we had, just waiting for the moment to really be clinical and achieve that second goal that allows you to manage better the game late.
“I have a lot of players [who will go] with their national team. I congratulate them, I’m very happy that they go to national team, but I’m very worried that they come back healthy.
“The staff deserve credit, it’s the 24th game and it says a lot, the way we finished, always on top and running, I’m proud of the boys.”
By Sean Gillen
