The fans can sense it. So can the players and certainly Unai Emery too.
After losing to a Wolves side who had won only one of their previous 32 Premier League matches, Aston Villa can feel a Champions League place slipping through their fingers for a second season in succession.
It is not yet time to panic. With five clubs set to qualify for Europe’s major club competition, Villa still headed into the weekend with a six-point cushion to Liverpool in sixth. They are also favourites for the Europa League, which guarantees safe passage to the Champions League.
Playing like this, though, they will succeed neither at home nor in Europe. Joao Gomes opened the scoring after an hour with substitute Rodrigo Gomes grabbing the second with virtually the last kick.
His midfield depleted by injuries, Emery is counting down the days until John McGinn and Youri Tielemans can return from injury. Villa must hope they do no come back too late.
This was a rare bright moment in a miserable season for Wolves and they deserved it. It will give Rob Edwards and his team new hope for the FA Cup fifth-round tie against Liverpool here on Friday. And with this win, they have now overhauled Derby’s record low total of 12 points from the 2007-08 season.
Aston Villa will have fears over their Champions League spot again after losing 2-0 at Wolves
Unai Emery was left with his head in his hands as his third-place side stumbled at Molineux
Though Emery already ranks as one of Villa’s finest managers, this was not his finest hour. Ollie Watkins has been labouring for most of the season and Tammy Abraham had scored in each of his last two games. Still Watkins was given the nod along with Lucas Digne, chosen at left-back ahead of the more adventurous Ian Maatsen. Emery has still never won at Molineux in five attempts.
When Joao Gomes gave Wolves the lead just after the hour mark, only Ezri Konsa and Digne tried to encourage their team-mates. Soon after that, the game was halted due to an apparent issue with referee Craig Pawson’s earpiece. Already irritated, that development seemed to tip Emery over the age as he paced frantically from one side of his technical area to the other. When the stoppage time board was held up, he lost it again, seeming to scream ‘Only seven?’ at the fourth official.
His players were angry, too. Ezri Konsa and Amadou Onana berated Emi Buendia for dragging his heels as he walked to the bench after being substituted and during the opening 45 minutes, Emery was constantly in the ear of Jadon Sancho. When Buendia and Digne were brought off, Emery seemed to ignore them.
Wolves know they are down but there are still certain matches that can bring some light in the darkness. One is next week’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Liverpool. The other is the chance to knock over one of their local rivals.
For their part, Villa knew they were favourites but lacked the confidence you would expect from a team chasing Champions League football. The absence of key players is starting to take its toll and shorn of Boubacar Kamara, as well as McGinn and Tielemans, Villa look half the team.
Taking only one point from matches against Everton, Brentford and Leeds suggested Villa were in poor health yet surely they would have far too much for one of the poorest teams in Premier League history. Wouldn’t they?
The early signs were not promising. Buendia’s clumsy challenge on Jean-Ricner Bellegarde gave Wolves a free-kick that Mateus Mane sent just wide from 22 yards. Many expected Abraham to be preferred to Watkins here and in the sixth minute Watkins wasted a great chance to repay that faith.
Sent clear by Morgan Rogers, Watkins hesitated just long enough for Yerson Mosquera to steal the ball before the forward could even shoot. Moments later, Pau Torres wasted a free header from Douglas Luiz’s corner.
Noting Villa’s recent struggles against cautious teams, Wolves boss Rob Edwards instructed his side to sit deep and counter. Yet after Mane’s free-kick, their only other chance was when Toti Gomes’ miscued a volley from Mosquera’s knockdown.
As the rain poured, Emery was growing more and more agitated at Sancho’s failure to make runs behind the Wolves back line. Eventually Emery’s patience snapped and he gave the on-loan Manchester United winger an earful. No doubt Sancho was relieved to head for the opposite flank when the sides changed ends for the second half.
Joao Gomes (above) struck midway through the second half to put Wolves in the ascendancy, before Rodrigo Gomes grabbed the hosts’ second goal with virtually the last kick of the game
Villa’s dismal defeat marked just the second time Wolves have won in the league this season
The sole other incident of note before half-time was when Luiz connected well Matty Cash’s cross but directed his volley straight at Jose Sa. It was Sa’s only serious save of the half.
The pattern did not change in the second half until, moments after Emery had made a double change, Jackson Tchatchoua crossed from the right, Adam Armstrong laid the ball off and Gomes crashed it in off the bar from 15 yards.
Maatsen’s arrival made a difference and his rising shot forced Sa into another sharp stop and Mosquera cleared off the line from Abraham before Rodrigo Gomes sealed it in front of the South Bank.