(AP) — João Gomes scored his first Premier League goal of the season and Rodrigo Gomes added a second in stoppage time to give bottom club Wolverhampton a shock 2-0 win over high-flying Aston Villa on Friday.

It was only the second win in the league for a club that remains six points adrift at the bottom of the table and is almost certain to be relegated.

However, there was no hiding the joy felt by the home players and fans who were ecstatic at beating their Midlands rival.

“You have to be pretty good to get a result like that against them,” coach Rob Edwards said.

“I’m really proud. Nights like this is why I came here. To connect with the supporters like that. I know we are in a difficult position but I love football. I love it on nights like that.”

The result was a bitter blow to Villa’s Champions League aspirations and a slap in the face for coach Unai Emery, who was bidding to record his 100th victory in charge of the Birmingham club.

“Now is the moment to be together and understand how the season is going,” Emery said. “We need to understand the moment we are in. We were already recovering because we drew two and won one but today we didn’t get the result we needed. It is still in our hands to reach the ambitions in the top positions.”

Both sides struggled in a dour first half but Wolves seized the initiative 16 minutes into the second period when Gomes gave it a surprise lead.

Adam Armstrong deftly cushioned a long pass right into the path of the onrushing Gomes and his superbly struck shot gave Emiliano Martínez no chance.

Villa pushed forward as the game went on and it was caught out in stoppage time when Wolves doubled its lead on the break, Rodrigo Gomes doing the damage.

Villa has won only one of its last five league games. The result leaves it 10 points behind leader Arsenal and five behind second-placed Manchester City, having played a game more than both.

Its next two matches are against the clubs immediately below it in the table, Chelsea and Manchester United.

“We need to keep playing how we are,” Villa midfielder Morgan Rogers said. “We are in third for a reason, we need to not forget that. The run lately hasn’t been the same, sometimes you have to come back down to earth as you are playing good teams which you could win or lose. That is the Premier League. We need to stay focused and get back to what we know.

“We didn’t do anywhere near enough to create chances and score goals. “We controlled the game so it isn’t all doom and gloom. They took their chances and we didn’t create enough.”

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has told striker Anthony Gordon to concentrate on the task at hand amid speculation linking the forward with a post-season move to Premier League leaders Arsenal.

Media reports on Friday suggested the 25-year-old, who scored four goals in the Champions League play-off first-leg victory over Qarabag last week, will be a target for the title-chasing Gunners.

Howe, still dealing with the consequence of Alexander Isak’s move from Newcastle to Liverpool last summer, would like to avoid a repeat of that protracted drama but accepts there is only so such within the control of a manager.

“I’m not sure there’s a lot I can do about that. I’ve not seen the story, so it’s news to me,” Howe told reporters ahead of a league match against Gordon’s former club Everton on Saturday.

“But we’re mid-season, we’re in the middle of some of the biggest games of his career and who knows what’s going to happen internationally with him in the summer as well?

“He’s got no time to look left or right, he’s got to be fully focused on straight ahead and the next game and trying to be as good as he can be.”

Earlier this month Gordon dismissed rumours he was leaving Newcastle, presently 11th in the Premier League, after signing a new “long-term” contract in October 2024.

He will hope to continue his good form as he looks to secure a place in the England squad for this year’s World Cup finals.

Former Bournemouth boss Howe, asked if he feared Gordon would be distracted by talk of a move to Arsenal, replied: “Only if he reads it, I suppose. In this age, there’s always rumour and speculation.”

“I don’t see probably 90 percent of it — I’m sure the players probably see more than I do — but I think it comes with the territory of being a top player and playing at this level, that there’s going to be speculation.”

The 48-year-old, speaking before a draw that pitted Newcastle against Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League, added: “I think you’ve just got to put it out of your brain and you’ve got to focus on the football because as we know with our schedule, there’s so many games, there’s no time for distractions. We have to be fully focused on each match.”

Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany said the scale of the Bundesliga match at Borussia Dortmund on Saturday means victory would be like winning “a mini title”.

Bayern are eight points clear at the top of the table and can take a major step towards defending their Bundesliga crown with a win on Saturday.

It is a rematch of the 2013 Champions League final and ‘Der Klassiker’ has emerged as a growing rivalry between the country’s two biggest football powers.

Dortmund let a two-goal first-leg lead slip to crash out of the Champions League at Atalanta on Wednesday, but beating Bayern would keep alive their slim hopes of a trophy this season.

“It’s a ‘Klassiker’. For me, it’s always a title in its own right, even if people say we can’t win anything more now,” Kompany said on Friday.

“The truth is, these games are also important to the masses, so it’s also a smaller title. I don’t want to forget that. And that’s why winning there is an absolute priority for us.”

Bayern, who have lost just once in the league this season, won the reverse fixture 2-1 in Munich in October in what remains Dortmund’s only defeat this campaign.

Kompany said Bayern captain and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was set to return from a calf injury.

“Manu actually looks good; we thought he might be out for a longer period. But I still want to discuss it with Manu again.”

If he plays, it will be Neuer’s 45th appearance against Dortmund and potentially his last, with the Bayern veteran’s contract due to expire in the summer, when he will be 40.

Mikel Arteta expects Viktor Gyokeres to have a major impact on Arsenal’s quadruple bid after the revitalised striker’s recent goal spree.

Gyokeres had endured a disappointing time since joining Arsenal from Sporting Lisbon ahead of this season.

But following his double in last weekend’s 4-1 win at arch-rivals Tottenham, the Sweden star has now scored eight goals in all competitions in 2026.

With 10 goals in the league this season, Gyokeres has already scored more than any Arsenal player did in the top flight last term.

Gyokeres’ form has been well timed with Arsenal top of the Premier League and also in contention in three other competitions.

Arteta believes the 27-year-old can improve even more as he learns the Premier League and adapts to his Arsenal team-mates.

“I think one thing leads to another. When you score the first one or the performances are good, you have more time with your team-mates, you understand the games, the opponent, the league better. Everything helps,” Arteta told reporters on Friday.

“We know his qualities. He is undoubtedly an incredible striker. We need to feed to his quality, we need to understand him better, he needs to understand the team, the league better, I think we are in the right trajectory.”

Asked if Gyokeres had struggled with confidence earlier this season, Arteta added: “That’s a question for him. Obviously I know the demands he puts on himself, the expectation that he has to help the team.

“I am confident because a lot of the times, our defenders, when they have to train against our players, you ask, ‘How do you feel when you face him?’ and they say, ‘It’s a nightmare’.”

Arsenal host London rivals Chelsea on Sunday looking to maintain their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

Manchester City can temporarily trim the gap to two points if they win at Leeds on Saturday.

The Gunners defeated Chelsea in the League Cup semi-finals recently, but Arteta insisted that has no bearing on this weekend’s clash.

“Chelsea have done different things while facing us. They can change throughout the game. They’ve got the manager and players who are comfortable doing that. We will be prepared and try to be better than them,” he said.

“There’s nothing else we can do. What we did two weeks ago or two years ago is irrelevant.”

As well as battling for the Premier League title, Arsenal are through to the Champions League last 16, the League Cup final against Manchester City and the FA Cup fifth round.

The Champions League draw on Friday pitted the Gunners against German side Bayer Leverkusen.

“We are very excited to play the next round, we have earned the right to play here with our performance in the group stage,” Arteta said.

“But we need to start analysing them now and find ways to be better than them to try to go through to the next round.”

Bayern Munich defender Hiroki Ito is set for another spell on the sidelines after picking up a hamstring injury, the club announced Friday.

Sporting director Christoph Freund confirmed the Japan centre-back would miss “two to three weeks”, ruling him out of Saturday’s trip to Borussia Dortmund and putting him in doubt for Bayern’s Champions League tie with Atalanta in March.

Ito, 26, has had a torrid time with injuries since arriving at Bayern from Stuttgart in 2024.

He played just six Bundesliga games in his first season after fracturing a bone in his foot and missed the first 10 games of this campaign with another foot injury.

Ito has played 26 matches for Japan, scoring once.