Team news

Aston Villa preview
Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill will check on the fitness of leading scorer Gabriel Agbonlahor before finalising his line-up for the lunchtime kick-off with Wolves at Villa Park.

Agbonlahor, who has netted 14 goals this season, suffered a groin strain during latter stages of the midweek away Barclays Premier League victory over Wigan.

If he is ruled out, then Emile Heskey could return to the starting line-up alongside John Carew as Villa look to sustain their push for a Champions League spot.

Wolves preview
Wolves welcome midfielder Dave Edwards and striker Chris Iwelumo back into their squad.

Wales international Edwards has been sidelined since undergoing ankle surgery in December after he was injured against Tottenham but made his comeback for the reserves against Arsenal on Wednesday.

Scotland international Iwelumo is back after a loan spell at Bristol City that boosted his match fitness following foot problems this season.

Manager Mick McCarthy insists his side should not fear their trip to Villa Park.

McCarthy, who plans to name an unchanged side for the sixth successive game, said: "We play well away from home. Look at how we played at Tottenham, Everton, Wigan and Stoke.

"We have had good performances away from home and that doesn't faze me at all. I don't fear going to Villa or West Ham in the game after that.

"I think with the way we are playing we are capable of getting something anywhere as our away form is pretty good." But McCarthy does know that Villa will be a tough nut to crack, especially as Wolves will have to find a way past the imposing figure of central defender Richard Dunne.

Since his #5million move from Manchester City last summer, Dunne has helped Villa to develop the meanest defence in the top flight.

McCarthy knows all about him as he gave Dunne his debut for the Republic of Ireland in 2000 - and made an ambitious bid to sign him before he joined Villa.

With Dunne in commanding form and Villa possessing a fearsome arsenal of attacking talent, McCarthy is braced for his side's survival credentials to be tested to the limit.

He added: "Let me tell you, Dunney is fantastic.

"He is a really, really top-drawer centre-half. Martin O'Neill asked me about him and I said, 'Sign him'.

"When I knew that Dunney was going I rang him up and asked him if he would come to us.

"But I knew there was no chance. He had bigger fish to fry which was fair enough.

"He is a great lad as well. He made his Ireland debut for me in Holland and he has been great.

"Villa have got a really good defence and then they have got Ashley Young, Stewart Downing, Gabriel Agbonlahor, John Carew and Emile Heskey.

"They can get goals without even committing loads of bodies forward.

Aston Villa vs Wolverhampton

Last modified 21:43 20/03/10

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John Carew rescued Aston Villa yesterday from the acute embarrassment of losing at home to West Midlands rivals Wolves.

There were only eight ­minutes to go when Carew got the final touch to a shot from substitute Steven Sidwell and brought Villa level with his second goal of the game.

In a way, a draw was the ­result most people had ­expected. Villa were ­mounting a strong challenge for fourth place, while Wolves are ­fighting to stay clear of ­relegation.

But Mick McCarthy’s men recovered magnificently from going behind to Carew’s early strike and seemed to have done enough to win with a goal by Jody Craddock and an own goal by James Milner.

Since Fabio Capello was watching in the stands, putting Wolves ahead in that way would not have been the way Milner wanted to impress the England boss. But one Villa player who did take advantage of the opportunity was Ashley Young.

He created Carew’s first goal and put Wolves under ­much pressure with the quality of his crosses.

“I thought Ashley was ­exceptional,” said Villa boss Martin O’Neill.

“I was very pleased with him. If the England manager was here, it can only be good for Ashley. He made the first goal for us and his overall game was top class.”

O’Neill also responded to the half-time criticism from the crowd by praising his team.

“I’m not despondent at all,” he insisted. “The opening 20-25 ­minutes was as good as we’ve played this season.

“I was absolutely delighted with the effort put in.”

Nor was ­McCarthy despondent. Asked if he felt hard done by, he said: “No, not really. It was our fault we conceded the [equalising] goal. We’d worked hard on not getting caught on the break.

“But it was a fabulous point and a terrific performance. We could have won it.

“Yet I’m sure when the first goal went in that ­everybody thought that’s that – Villa are going to win four or five and we’ll get a slapping. We’re the whipping boys.”

Fielding the five-man midfield that has helped them stay out of the bottom three, Wolves came to Villa Park with a defensive look. But their game plan took a bad knock as early as the 16th minute.

A sweeping Villa move saw Young beat Ronald Zubar with ease down the left before ­delivering the perfect low ­centre for Carew to tap the home side ahead.

“I thought the first goal was offside,” said McCarthy, and TV replays suggested he might have been correct.

Villa’s lead lasted just seven minutes. When Stiliyan Petrov was booked for a foul on Kevin Doyle – the first of many that Wolves’ striker suffered ­— David Jones floated a perfect free-kick into the area.

Zubar got to it first, but instead of turning the ball into the net he ­unaccountably knocked it back to Craddock.

Instinctively, the centre-back swept in his fifth goal of the season.

The visitors’ day got even brighter in the 38th minute. Jones was allowed to run unchallenged at the Villa defence and put Matthew Jarvis away down the left.

Jarvis cut the ball back so superbly that Milner ­accidentally put it into his own net as he stretched to stop Jones completing the attack.

The second half was much quieter, with Wolves ­concentrating on staying ahead and Villa, for all the crosses rained in by Young, powerless to break the visitors down.

The nearest they came to it was a header by Emile Heskey, from a Young centre, that ­Marcus Hahnemann and Karl Henry somehow kept out in a scramble on the line.

But the next header, from Carew, was more decisive. He nodded the ball on to Heskey, who played it back to Sidwell. The substitute midfielder’s shot looked to be going in when Carew applied the final touch, just to make sure.