Aston Villa v Wolves: Key stats and talking points

Five games into the season, Aston Villa and Wolves were the only two teams in the Premier League without a win and were both marooned in the relegation zone. Seven matches later, the West Midlands rivals are separated by 19 points. BBC Sport explores some of the talking points ahead of Sunday's meeting (14:05 GMT).

Home, sweet home for Villa

Villa have soared from 18th place to fourth prior to the weekend fixtures thanks to a run of six wins in seven games. They recorded a seventh straight home victory in all competitions by beating Young Boys in Thursday's Europa League encounter, and their only defeat in 30 games at Villa Park came in August against a Crystal Palace side who are kryptonite to Unai Emery's men.

No team in Europe's major leagues has as few home defeats over the past 30 matches, while only three have more wins.

Malen providing greater goal threat than Watkins

Donyell Malen further pressed his case for a first Premier League start in six weeks by scoring both of Villa's goals on Thursday to put them third in the Europa League table. It took his club tally for the season to six, all scored at Villa Park. Conversely, out-of-sorts fellow forward Ollie Watkins has just a solitary goal and assist in his past 20 appearances.

While Watkins has badly underperformed his expected goals tally of 4.3 this season, Malen has scored two goals more than expected based on the quality of chances he has had.

Can Edwards galvanise toothless Wolves?

New Wolves head coach Rob Edwards returns to Villa Park, where he started his playing career, with his side in danger of suffering six Premier League defeats in a row in the same season for the first time since 2012.

They are winless in 16 league games dating back to May and this season's tally of two points is the third worst record after 12 matches in English top-flight history. Manchester United were pointless at the same stage in 1930-31, while Sheffield United had one point in 2020-21.

A home defeat against Crystal Palace in Edwards' first game in charge last weekend left Wolves nine points from safety. Edwards opted for a back five and large-and-larger strike partnership of Jorgen Strand Larsen and Tolu Arokodare, but the head coach said afterwards the team's shape for each game would probably depend on who they are playing.

No player has scored more than once for Wolves in the league this season, an issue encapsulated by Jhon Arias contriving to miss from a few yards out against Palace. Top of Edwards' priorities must surely be to find a solution to the team's attacking deficiencies.