Bruce: Stuttering Wolves would need ‘almighty collapse’ to derail promotion push

Steve Bruce admits it will take an “almighty collapse” for Wolves to miss out on promotion despite seeing his Aston Villa side hammer the Sky Bet Championship leaders.

Third-placed Villa earned a 4-1 victory on Saturday to close the gap on their rivals to seven points, while second-placed Cardiff are just three points behind the pacesetters.

Wolves had been 13 points clear at the summit not so long ago but since beating QPR have lost two and drawn two of their five league fixtures – with Saturday’s loss at Villa Park their heaviest of the season.

Diogo Jota equalised Albert Adomah’s early goal but second-half efforts from James Chester, Lewis Grabban and Birkir Bjarnason sealed a vital three points for Villa.

Villa boss Bruce said: “It will take an almighty collapse for Wolves to lose out with the standard they have set, but it is the Championship and nothing surprises me.

“We played really well against Wolves who are a very decent team. It was a great game and a great advert for the Championship.

“To come out in the second half and score three goals was good to see.

“There are 10 games to go. We have a big home game against Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday and this will arguably be more difficult than the Wolves match.

“I am under no illusions about that fact but we have given ourselves the opportunity to make further progress.”

Wolves’ loss of form has allowed their rivals to dramatically close the gap on them, with Cardiff making huge inroads on the back of six-game winning streak.

Nuno Espirito Santo, Wolves’ deflated manager, admitted that it was important for his team to bounce back in their next two home games – beginning on Tuesday against Reading.

Nuno said: “I will organise my thoughts and analyse what happened.

“It was a tough game. The first half was good but at the start of the second half we made mistakes that we shouldn’t have done and that changed the game.

“We did not have a good match. My first act is to organise and improve for the next game against Reading and bounce back.

“The first half was good but it was poor defending on set-pieces which cost us the match. We were always fighting against a good team.

“At the moment the home factor is most important. That is what is going to decide the final table.

“We have to look to our next two games at Molineux with the support of our fans. We need them now because this defeat is painful for everyone.”