Tammy Abraham has not ruled out the possibility of Aston Villa challenging Arsenal and Manchester City for the Premier League title despite slipping further behind the top two. 

Abraham came to Villa's rescue in their last top-flight fixture, scoring an 88th-minute equaliser to help seal the share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw with Leeds United last Saturday. 

It was a result that now leaves Unai Emery's team 10 points behind leaders Arsenal, with City also five in front of Villa, while the pressure is also coming from beneath them. 

Manchester United's upturn in form has placed them three points behind the Villans in the table, while Chelsea and Liverpool are also hoping to challenge for a top-four finish. 

The Opta supercomputer has assigned Villa just a 0.7% chance of finishing top of the pile, but Abraham was more optimistic ahead of Friday's clash with bottom club Wolves.

"When I first arrived, I spoke with a few of the boys and watching from a far you can see that the team has a lot of qualities," Abraham said. 

"We're delighted to be where we are today, but we are so close, so we have to just keep pushing and keep believing in ourselves.

"Who knows what could happen? We are not too far from Arsenal, who are at the top. Unfortunately, today we didn't get the win, but we just have to keep pushing."

Wolves, meanwhile, were dealt a heartbreaking late blow at Selhurst Park last time out, with Evann Guessand sealing a late 1-0 win for Crystal Palace in the 90th minute.

Indeed, that defeat was the 20th Wolves have suffered in the Premier League this season in what was their 28th match, leaving them 17 points adrift of safety. 

But they had their chances in the contest, registering an expected goals (xG) total of 1.63 from their 12 attempts to Palace's tally of 2 from their 14 shots at Jose Sa. 

Tolu Arokodare had his penalty saved by Dean Henderson and Ladislav Krejci was sent off, with Adam Armstrong left to rue a wasteful display by his new team-mates.

"It was 100 per cent a missed opportunity. I think, in the first half we were very good. We cut through them quite a lot and had a few chances," Armstrong said. 

"Emotions were high after the game, but the second half, going down to 10 men is always tough in this league.

"The goal that arrived was probably our fault. We could have done better, so it’s a tough one to take. I think in the first half we were outstanding.

"There were chances there to kill them, and we didn't quite do that. It was moments in games, and we have to look at that and be a lot better."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Wolves – Tolu Arokodare

No Wolves player has scored more than twice so far in the Premier League this season. With 27 games played, it's the latest in a season a team has had to wait for a player to score at least three goals, overtaking Southampton from last season (MD24).

However, they will be hopeful that Tolu Arokodare will be able to get over his missed penalty against Palace at Molineux this Friday.

Against the Eagles, Arokodare posted team-high totals for shots (five), touches in the opposition box (seven), duels won (11) and aerial duels won (10).

Aston Villa – Tammy Abraham

Abraham's goal against Leeds was Villa's ninth from a corner in the Premier League this season. Only Arsenal (14) and Tottenham (13) have scored more in 2025-26.

And he may be confident of adding to his season's tally, given he has scored more goals against Wolves than any other opponent in English league football (six), netting a hat-trick in his first Premier League game against them with Chelsea in September 2019.

MATCH PREDICTION: ASTON VILLA WIN

Villa have won three of their last four Premier League games against Wolves (L1), as many as in their previous 15 (D6 L6). They're looking to complete the Premier League double over them for the first time since 2003-04.

However, since a run of eight league wins in a row between 9 November and 27 December this season, the Villans haven't had a repeated result in any of their last nine games (LWDLWLDWD), last drawing consecutive games in September against Everton and Sunderland.

They had 66.8% possession in their draw with Leeds; Villa won their first three games when having 65%+ possession under Emery but have since won just five out of 17 games when dominating that much of the ball (D8 L4), winning just one of five games in 2025-26 (D2 L2).

Wolves, meanwhile, have won four of their last six Premier League home games against Villa (D1 L1) and are unbeaten in four since a 1-0 loss in December 2020.

But Wolves have failed to score in a league-high 15 different Premier League games this season. Only in 2009-10 (17) and 2021-22 (16) have they failed in more often in a single campaign.

In addition, each of Wolves' last seven top-flight wins (dating back to March 2025) have been against teams in the bottom seven of the table, with those sides having an average position of 17th. They are winless in 17 against sides in the top half (D5 L12) since a 1-0 win at Bournemouth in February 2025.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Wolves – 17.5%

Draw – 19.6%

Aston Villa – 62.9%