Aston Villa looking to end 91-year streak in Wolverhampton Wanderers game

Aston Villa will hope to end a 91-year streak when they make the short trip to face Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday afternoon.

Unai Emery's side have made a strong start to the 2023-24 campaign, winning eight of their 12 matches in all competitions.

Five of those victories have come from seven fixtures in the Premier League, with the West Midlands outfit currently sitting in fifth position in the standings.

Villa have found things far trickier in the Europa Conference League group stage, starting that phase with a surprise 3-2 defeat at Legia Warsaw last month.

To their credit, Villa responded with a 1-0 triumph over Zrinjski Mostar on Thursday night, albeit requiring a last-gasp winner from John McGinn deep into added-on time to overcome the Bosnian-Herzegovian side.

However, Villa have had few such issues with scoring goals in the top flight, with their return of 18 goals only bettered by Brighton & Hove Albion who have netted 19.

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Should Villa score at least two goals in their derby showdown with Wolves at Molineux, it would represent the first time since 1932 that they have recorded 20 goals in their opening eight top-flight encounters.

That opportunity has been created despite Villa failing to score in one of their games - a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool - and scoring one goal apiece in matches with Newcastle United and Liverpool.

Villa head to Wolves having lost on five of their last six visits, with their solitary success during that period being a 1-0 win in December 2020 through a late Anwar El Ghazi penalty.

From Wolves' perspective, Hwang Hee-chan will be looking to set a 50-year best when he features in the Wolves attack for this contest.

Including matches from last season, the South Korea international has netted in his last four Premier League appearances at Molineux.

If he gets on the scoresheet on Sunday, it will be the first time since John Richards did so in 1973 that a Wolves player has scored in five such matches, with club legend Richards going on to net in six games in a row.