Julen Lopetegui believes keeping Wolves in the Premier League will be his biggest achievement as they all but ended any relegation fears and damaged Aston Villa’s European dream. Wolves edged their derby rivals with Toti Gomes’ first goal for the club securing a fourth straight home victory and moved them 10 points clear of the relegation zone. It would now take a staggering set of results to send Wolves, who were bottom at Christmas, down on 40 points. Lopetegui said: “It was one of the biggest challenges of my life, as a coach. It has been my most difficult achievement as a coach, much more difficult than [winning] the Europa League and putting Sevilla in the Champions League. “It was a very bad situation. A lot of people called me: ‘You are crazy, why do you go there?’ “It’s very important points for us. To arrive at 40 points, it’s not mathematic but we are very close to our aim. I’m very happy for the club, fans, players. We arrived here in December with 10 points at the bottom. “Today I showed more emotion, I am human. We’ve suffered a lot.” Villa’s European hopes suffered a significant blow with the defeat leaving them eighth, a point behind Brighton – who they host on the final day – having played three games more. That they were even in European contention remains a tribute to the work Unai Emery has done since replacing Steven Gerrard in October. Villa do at least face Tottenham, Liverpool and Brighton – those immediately above them – in their final three games but any hopes of Europe are fading. Smarting from the 6-0 thumping at Brighton last week, Wolves’ heaviest league defeat in 16 years, the hosts intended to remedy the result early. Villa actually enjoyed a brighter start in the opening exchanges but it was Wolves who scored a ninth-minute winner. Rúben Neves was forced to wait to take his corner but when he did the midfielder picked out Gomes to crash in a header off the bar from 12 yards – just his second career goal. Villa, who lost a 10-game unbeaten run with a 1-0 defeat at Manchester United last weekend, responded with José Sá turning Emi Buendía’s strike wide. The visitors remained the aggressors but lacked the sharpness which had propelled them up the table since Emery’s arrival. It allowed Wolves to remain comfortable at the back, despite Villa dominating possession. Slowly, though, Emery’s side began to find space and Ollie Watkins’ acrobatic effort dropped wide. It was a warning for Wolves and they escaped again soon after when Jacob Ramsey’s cross dropped for Watkins seven yards out but the striker could only head straight at Sá. Wolves’ organisation and concentration was crucial and Craig Dawson was alert to halt Buendía as Villa probed for a leveller but there was still the occasional gap for the hosts to exploit. Just before the break Diego Costa teed up Matheus Cunha to plant a half-volley over from the edge of the box then, less than two minutes after the restart, Pedro Neto found Costa who was denied by Emi Martínez. Chasing four successive top-flight home wins for the first time since 1975, Wolves at least started the second half with more attacking purpose having spent the majority of the first 45 minutes frustrating Villa. Ashley Young swept a shot wide but Villa could not find the same spaces as before and needed Nunes to get in a tangle in front of goal from Neto’s cross not to concede a second. But, with 19 minutes remaining, the visitors blew their best chance to grab a point when Douglas Luiz’s free-kick dropped for Tyrone Mings six yards out, only for the defender to volley over. Emery said: “I’m frustrated with the result but overall in 90 minutes we tried to keep going with the game plan, we did it, we had good positioning, good progress with passes and then got in the box. “In the second half the rhythm was going down, they were trying to waste time and we didn’t get our best performances.”