Wolves 2-0 Aston Villa: Vitor Pereira’s side claim crucial win in fight to beat the drop – as Donyell Malen is denied maiden strike by controversial VAR call

Maybe Unai Emery is tricking us all and has developed a cunning plan to play Marcus Rashford in defence for Aston Villa.

The Manchester United forward is due to have a medical on Sunday ahead of a loan move to Villa Park in what would be one of the most remarkable deals of the window.

Emery would not confirm the move but it is thought Villa will cover the majority of Rashford’s £325,000-a-week wages. Emery added that he is seeking a defender, an attacking midfielder and a forward before the window closes on Monday, and he will be keeping his fingers crossed the knock that forced off Ollie Watkins in the first half is not serious.

Yet as this defeat at Wolves proved, Emery’s greatest need is at the back, where he is without three regulars and allowed Diego Carlos to join Fenerbahce without securing a replacement. Villa have now failed to win seven of their eight league games that have followed a Champions League fixture and Emery’s four substitutions at half-time told the story.

A word on Wolves. This was perhaps their best display of the season and lifted them out of the relegation zone. They could have won by many more than Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s first-half strike and Matheus Cunha’s stoppage-time clincher.

Cunha has been open to leaving Wolves this month but the Brazilian seemed to be indicating at full-time that he would stay – at least for the rest of the season – and sign a new contract.

‘A special player,’ said Wolves boss Vitor Pereira. ‘He knows in the future he can play for the best teams in England but he’s committed with us.’ Wolves also hope to sign centre-back Kevin Danso from Lens.

With Ipswich and Leicester losing earlier in the day, Pereira’s men put themselves back in the driving seat for survival. There was no excuse, though, for the bottle launched in stoppage time that nearly struck Villa substitute Leon Bailey as he prepared to take a corner.

Rashford could be many things for Villa, but he is unlikely to be an effective replacement for Pau Torres, Tyrone Mings or Matty Cash, who all missed this one due to injury. Villa are desperate to sign a centre-back before the window closes on Monday and they have put themselves in a rotten negotiating position.

Emery is a brilliant coach who has taken Villa from a relegation scrap to the last 16 of the Champions League in less than two and a half years, but Villa’s behaviour in the market is chaotic and letting Carlos and Emi Buendia leave without securing reinforcements was an unforced error.

‘We are still building a team,’ insisted Emery. ‘We got Champions League this year and are competing well but to build a team to be competitive in the high demands, we need more time.”

Bellegarde drove in the opener after 12 minutes when he was allowed to run untracked on to Pablo Sarabia’s pass and Goncalo Guedes could have had a hat-trick before the break.

Effectively admitting he had made a mess of his team selection, Emery changed nearly half of his outfield players at the interval. One of them, Donyell Malen, steered home John McGinn’s low cross from inside the six-yard box but the effort was ruled out for offside against Morgan Rogers – much to Emery’s frustration.

With time ticking away, Jose Sa made two fine saves from Malen and as they had been all day, Wolves defenders were quick to snuff out the danger. Then with Villa stretched, Cunha settled the matter with an expertly-taken goal on the counter-attack and his celebration was lapped up by the Wolves fans. He will surely now be here until May. Villa’s transfer story, however, is still to be written.