Aston Villa Go Third as Kamara Thunderbolt Sinks Wolves – Emery Warns on Goal Drought Fears
Aston Villa nudged up to third in the Premier League after a scrappy 1-0 derby win over Wolves, settled by a belting Boubacar Kamara strike that flew into the top corner. It wasn’t pretty, not by a long chalk, but Unai Emery’s lot march on regardless.
Kamara delivered the one moment of real class in an otherwise bitty Midlands clash, smashing home from 20 yards to give Villa their seventh win in eight league outings. Wolves barely laid a glove on Emiliano Martínez, yet Villa hardly peppered Sam Johnstone either – the hosts’ only proper moment of danger ended up in the net.
The result shoved Emery’s side to within a single point of second-placed Manchester City and just about keeps the early whispers of a wild title push alive. It sounded daft a few weeks back, but with Arsenal wobbling here and there, Villa suddenly look like the side ready to nip in behind the leaders.
The numbers tell their own mad story. Villa has scored nine of their 16 league goals from outside the box this season – more than anyone else in the division and the highest ratio at this stage in Premier League history. Kamara’s rocket added to long-range efforts from Matty Cash, Emi Buendía and Morgan Rogers, while Bournemouth trail next on seven. Arsenal, strangely, has only two. Wolves? Still none.
Emery, forever the perfectionist, insists it’s no accident. “The players are very comfortable shooting, and they are being clinical,” he said. “But we need more options to get goals… they are practising a lot every training session.” Kamara echoed the sentiment afterwards, saying some players “has good ability to shoot from outside the box” and that sometimes midfielders need to “make something special.”
But there’s a flip side. Ollie Watkins came off the bench and blanked again, the England striker now stuck in an 11-game drought – the longest of his Villa career. Donyell Malen, fresh off two Europa League goals, didn’t threaten much either. Johnstone barely got his gloves dirty aside from Kamara’s blast, and Emery admitted Villa still “are not scoring a lot of goals” despite the results ticking over.
Still, clean sheets and long-range wonder strikes has pushed them into the top three as the campaign hits its stride. Villa head into a packed December slate with momentum, a mean back line, and a knack for the spectacular – though Emery will know they’ll need more than 20-yard screamers if they’re to cling on in the Champions League chase.