Aston Villa

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We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Aston Villa and Wolves.

Here are some of your comments:

Villa fans

Rudgey: Unai Emery showed his genius again! For 60 minutes, Wolves had the measure of us but our substitutes and tactical tweaks turned the game. Seeing Gary O'Neil's face at full-time as he shook hands with Emery said it all - when the game changed, he couldn't keep up. We can now get results even when we're not at our best. Exciting times!

Simon: Surely Jhon Duran deserves to start soon? Ollie Watkins scored but he looks off his game after the Euros. We huffed and puffed in the first half against a Wolves team with no natural finisher, but it shows how deep the Villans can dig to pull it out of the bag! It says a lot about the coach and his well assembled squad.

Leona: Villa showed the mentality required to overcome Wolves after giving away a goal due to repeatedly bad defending. Ross Barkley played a blinder and his input helped turn the result around. Surely Duran has to start the next game? I still feel Villa are better playing in a 4-4-2.

Thomas: Another great win for Villa. A poor first-half performance but we came alive in the second half and Duran scored again! We move on to Wycombe on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup and hope to get through to the fourth round.

Wolves fans

Alan: We better hope that there are three worse teams than us because at the moment, relegation beckons. Too early to panic after a hard run of fixtures? The excuse brigade is still failing to accept the facts. Is it too soon to start the Gary O'Neil out discussion?

Mark: Really frustratingly disappointing once again. We had a dominant first half, an awful second half and we were an absolute mess defensively. I'm afraid we are in serious trouble. If the mindset of the manager and his players is that the fixtures will eventually get easier, they are sadly mistaken. There are no easy games in the Premier League. The Championship beckons.

Glyn: Great first-half display but again no Plan B for the second half. We knew that Villa would change things, but we didn't and couldn't react as we don't have the quality of game-changing players that our opposition have. There is no plan B and I'm getting worried.

Norman: We are having a bad run at the moment, but I see them getting out of this bad run. I have all the confidence in our manager. In the owners? That is a different question and I'm not going to go there. It is the team that means more to me than the owners. I have supported them for over 64 years and I still find when we lose most upsetting.

Aston Villa, Fulham and Nottingham Forest are monitoring Galatasaray’s 24-year-old winger Baris Alper Yilmaz. (CaughtOffside), external

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Joe Rindl
BBC Sport journalist

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Aston Villa's match really started in the 73rd minute when they finally shook off their European hangover and levelled through Ollie Watkins' third goal in as many matches.

After the equaliser, Villa Park expected a winner.

Unai Emery's side have tasted victory in all their matches bar one this season, which was itself a battling defeat by title challengers Arsenal.

The hosts pushed for a second and were rewarded by unlikely scorer Ezri Konsa sliding in for his first goal since he netted against Wolves in March.

Jhon Duran's goal on the break - incredibly his fourth this season without starting a fixture - flattered the hosts, but Villa are now a team who find a way to win even when they play badly.

They move up to third in the Premier League - level on points with leaders Liverpool and Manchester City, who welcome Arsenal on Sunday.

There may have been actual storm clouds gathering over Villa Park on Saturday, but right now things look very bright for the West Midlands club.

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Aston Villa have now gained six points from losing positions in the Premier League this season; the joint-most of any side alongside Manchester City. While Wolves have dropped six points from such positions, with only Everton (8) having dropped more.

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Aston Villa boss Unai Emery, speaking to Match of the Day: "We want to win matches easier than we did. We are showing how difficult it is to win in the Premier League - last week against Everton [0-2 to win 3-2].

"We were suffering in the first half but the second half was completely different. I am very happy because we won. It was very important we changed our energy and we played to win in the second half."

On Jhon Duran: "Good impact again. The most important thing is we won. We will need all the players in the matches we play in the next few weeks."

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Aston Villa's Ezri Konsa, speaking to Match of the Day after beating Wolves: "It shows the character and the togetherness we have here [to come from behind and win]. We knew we were not good enough in the first half. We came out firing in the second half and punished them."

On substitute Jhon Duran scoring again: "He's a big talent. We see it every day in training. It's important for him to stay humble and we'll help him do that. He's still young."

On the tribute to Gary Shaw: "It's been an emotional week for us with the passing of Gary Shaw. On Tuesday we wanted to dedicate the win to him. And we wanted to do it today in front of our fans and in front of his family."

Nedum Onuoha
Former Manchester City defender on BBC Final Score

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Aston Villa were certainly better in the second half. I still think Wolves will feel as though they should have won this game or at least gotten something out of it.

The 3-1 result doesn't necessarily do the game justice, but Aston Villa have shown that they can push on and find a way to win in the big moments, which is what the big clubs do.

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

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Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

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Aston Villa host Wolves on Saturday at 15:00 BST.

Sutton's prediction: 2-0

There were some strange results that cost me last week - I was nailed on to get the exact score of Wolves versus Newcastle until Harvey Barnes smashed in Newcastle's winner late on.

Wolves hit the post too when they were 1-0 up and, although they have only picked up one point from their first four games, they have not had much luck and I still think they will end up being fine this season, even though I don't expect them to get anything here.

Villa boss Unai Emery has to find a balancing act with their Champions League campaign and any chopping and changing to his team, which is a much bigger ask than when they reached the Europa Conference League semi-finals last season.

I didn't captain Ollie Watkins in my Fantasy team last week, when he scored a double against Everton, but Jhon Duran coming on to score Villa's winner in that game shows the depth in their squad to cope.

So, I don't feel they will be affected by their win over Young Boys in Switzerland on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see how much Emery rotates his players, but I can only see a Villa win.

Smith's prediction: 2-1

I feel like Villa are going to have another really good season.

Read the full predictions and have your say here

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Earlier, we asked you for the three players who have scored more than 50 Premier League goals for Aston Villa.

Gabby Agbonlahor is Villa's leading scorer in the Premier League with 74, while Ollie Watkins and Dwight Yorke have also passed a half-century in claret and blue.

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Aston Villa manager Unai Emery hopes striker Jhon Duran can continue his development to be in a position to be a regular starter in the future.

Duran, 20, has scored three Premier League goals off the bench in just four matches so far, and continues to make a positive impact for the Villans in that way.

Indeed, if he scores another winner off the bench he will make history as the first player to do that in four games during a single Premier League campaign.

Speaking before Saturday's West Midlands derby against Wolves, Emery explained the development of the Colombian since his move to England two years ago.

"His position is growing up. Two years ago he arrived and the first season was not easy for him - but probably he was playing more," said the Spaniard.

"He had a difficult injury last year. He didn't play in pre-season and he started playing at the beginning of September. He was getting better and, of course, to compete with Ollie Watkins was difficult - but he had a moment to play and he did things and he showed last season at times [talent] like he is doing now.

"His talent is there.

"He is playing more, feeling confident, respect another team-mate how he is progressing and playing and having a good impact for us."

Asked whether Duran could start for Villa soon, Emery said: "He is close to playing in the starting XI and he has to understand as well how we can manage to play with Ollie Watkins - both in the starting XI - and to play sometimes alone in different competitions and different moments.

"But I am very happy with how he has started the season. The first session we did with him was very focused and now it is good to watch him playing, adding more minutes. Every minute he is playing, he is helping us."

Joe Nelson
BBC Sport journalist

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Wolves (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Ollie Watkins is "100%" fit and available, despite being pictured with ice on his foot after Tuesday's win at Young Boys.

• Emery will judge his starting XI off who is physically, mentally and tactically the best options in his squad: "Last year, we had a very good experience playing in the Conference League. The experience we had playing a lot of matches is good for this year and it depends on how the players are after each game. Tomorrow, I am playing those who will be better tactically, physically as well, and mentally to play."

• The Villa boss has plenty of experience in derby matches: "I have been in many derbies in this country and in other countries, and tomorrow is another."

• Jhon Duran is contributing greatly to the Villans' attacking output this season but Emery does not know if he will start on Saturday: "As a striker, he is clearly helping us score goals and making a good impact, but the idea is to play in the starting XI. I don't know [if he will start] tomorrow or Tuesday or next weekend ,but he is close and ready to play and add more minutes."

• Villa must respect Wolves, despite Gary O'Neil's side still awaiting their first league win of the season: "My experience here in the Premier League is every match is very difficult. You have to respect every team and, if you want to win, you have to focus on the match. They have a good coach, good team, good players and are very competitive."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Can you name the three players who have scored more than 50 goals in the Premier League for Aston Villa?

Answer will be revealed at 17:00 BST

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Jhon Duran has scored the winning goal in all three of Aston Villa’s Premier League wins this season, with all three coming as a substitute.

No player has scored four winning goals from the bench in a single campaign in Premier League history.

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The issue around the footballing calendar and the demands being placed on players right now is a difficult one.

First, we need to take into consideration the really high demands on the body that go on all-year round with few breaks, especially for international footballers and those in teams competing on multiple fronts.

I know the men's and the women's games are different, but we got exposed to these issues when we went from amateur to professional. There was a lot of loading, a lot of games and the result of that was a higher risk of injury and we have seen a lot of anterior cruciate ligament injuries now in the women's game.

From the fans' side, their point is often that players get paid a lot of money but I think that is irrelevant. That is just the industry players are in and, if you take out the money, they are still human beings.

The governing bodies need to look at who they consult with about changes in the calendar such as World Cups being held in winter and summers where there is just a couple of weeks off before going straight back into it. The changes and fixtures that are put in are there to generate more money, which makes it difficult. As a business, it is about money.

We talk about mental health a lot and you wonder, where is the time to switch off and have that time away from playing? To have that family time which is a deep human need? At some point mentally, if not physically, it will take its toll.

None of us want to see players striking, but players need to be listened to. What do they need to do to make change happen?

Fara Williams was speaking to BBC Sport's Nicola Pearson