(Credit: Imago)

Premier League make announcement on controversial Aston Villa vs Wolves incident

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Published on:

30 Nov 2025, 9:14 am

Wolves thought they had netted the opener against Aston Villa until it was quickly ruled out by the linesman.

Despite Aston Villa’s fantastic form, they struggled in the opening exchanges against the side bottom of the Premier League.

While Donyell Malen was given the nod to start after his fantastic performance against Young Boys, there were few positives.

In fact, the hosts could have been 1-0 down early on if not for a controversial decision from the referee and VAR.

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery stares towards the heavens.

Unai Emery will be expecting a win against Wolves (Credit: Imago)

Jhon Arias was blocking Emi Martinez’s view for Wolves' disallowed goal

VAR has consistently been controversial in Aston Villa’s recent matches, but it came to Unai Emery’s benefit on Sunday.

17minutes in, Jorgen Strand Larsen thought he had netted his second Premier League goal of the season when he bundled the ball into the net after a quick counter-attack.

However, the linesman quickly ruled the goal out, and VAR soon confirmed this decision to be correct.

Now, the Premier League Match Centre on X on 30 November has confirmed that this was due to Jhon Arias blocking Emi Martinez’s view from an offside position.

#AVLWOL – 16’

The referee’s call of offside and no goal to Wolverhampton Wanderers was checked and confirmed by VAR – with Arias in an offside position and deemed to be impacting the goalkeeper.
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) November 30, 2025

Therefore, this was deemed to have impacted the goalkeeper’s ability to save the shot which resulted in it being disallowed.

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Aston Villa aiming to end Wolves hoodoo

In recent years, no matter the contrasting form between the two sides, Villa have struggled against Wolves.

In their last meeting, Wolves came out 2-0 winners at Molineux, despite the hosts fighting relegation.

Now, with Rob Edwards’ side almost certainly going down, Emery will be aiming to finally end this hoodoo against their local rivals.

A win in no doubt expected at Villa Park, and realistically, there is no reason why the Birmingham outfit cannot deliver all three points.

If not, it will no doubt be an opportunity lost for the hosts to pick up what is seemingly an easy three points.

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Premier League

Emi Martinez