Jimenez and Neves's absences coupled with Neto's fitness woes and an underwhelming spell of form does not spell optimism for Wolves here, but Villa did not enter the international break in glittering form either.
However, Gerrard has plenty of choice when it comes to freshening up his attack and is working with a much fitter squad than Lage, so we can picture Villa returning to winning ways in this derby as Wolves' continental aspirations take yet another hit.
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Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Wolverhampton Wanderers win with a probability of 37.24%. A win for Aston Villa had a probability of 35.98% and a draw had a probability of 26.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Wolverhampton Wanderers win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.14%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.16%) and 2-0 (6.5%). The likeliest Aston Villa win was 0-1 (9.93%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.72%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Wolverhampton Wanderers would win this match.
