Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Gary O’Neil admits local rivals Aston Villa are “tough to stop” under manager Unai Emery.
Villa are just two points off Premier League pacesetters Manchester City and Arsenal following Sunday’s 4-1 win over West Ham United. Douglas Luiz’s double and clinical finishes from Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey earned Emery’s side an 11th consecutive home league win and their first victory over the Hammers since 2015.
Wolves did hold Villa to a 1-1 draw at Molineux before the international break. But O’Neil recognises the difficult challenged faced by any team that comes up against Emery’s team at the moment.
Appearing as a guest of Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football programme, he said: “They are difficult to stop and the goals they scored against West Ham showed that. They entice defenders in at the top of their box and if you want to jump in, they find a big space for Ollie Watkins to run down the side and he gets the fourth goal from it.
“We suffered it last year with Bournemouth – we tried to go in on the box with the full-back and Ollie Watkins killed us down the side. We had a bit more success with Wolves at home, we went with a back five and managed to jump in with the outside centre-backs.
“But they are very difficult to stop. They will kill you by playing through and if you try stopping them playing through, they have (Moussa) Diaby and Watkins that can kill you behind – it’s tough to stop.
