Toti Gomes header moves Wolves closer to Premier League safety with victory over Aston Villa

Toti Gomes’ first-half header was enough to earn Wolverhampton Wanderers a win at Molineux over Aston Villa.

Wolves had already started to pull away from the threat of relegation as they started the day with 37 points in mid-table, seven points clear of the relegation zone.

They entered the match in good form, with three wins from their last five, while Aston Villa had dropped down to eighth after bursting as high as fifth under new manager Unai Emery.

The home side went ahead early, after just nine minutes, when Toti scored.

The 24-year-old centre-back scored his first goal for the club when he crashed in his header from a corner against the crossbar and over the line.

Wolves then struggled to create much for the rest of the first period, and while they had the occasional chance it was the away side who had the best of it in the second period save for Pedro Neto teeing up Matheus Nunes, only for the forward to miss an easy chance.

Villa almost equalised when Tyrone Mings was put free with a ball over the top, but his shot from six yards went over.

The win puts Wolves into 13th spot, 10 points clear of the bottom three, and their next match is against Manchester United next Saturday.

Villa remain eighth, and next face Tottenham, also on Saturday.