Welcome to the first top-of-the-table showdown of the season. Well, if you insist on publishing the league tables so early. Both teams have started the season pretty well, exceeding expectations - Villa fans, staring in disbelief at the appointment of Blues boss Alex McLeish, having had none - and both will be hoping for something from this match. Wolves have a 100% record to maintain, and having won here 1-0 last season, will fancy their chances of doing so. Especially as they always score at the Villa, with at least one goal in all but one of their last eight league visits. I do hope nobody's stopped off at the pub on the way here. I can't be sure, but did McLeish deliberately flash McCarthy a quick glimpse of his tactics pad. But what a gambit that would be, the steady drip, drip, drip of disinformation. Within seconds of kick off, McCarthy makes a triple substitution and changes his formation. The two teams take turns in failing to keep hold of the ball. Doyle is causing an awful lot of bother down the right, while Hunt is seeing a fair bit of the ball in the middle. The free kick, out on the right, is swung in by Hunt and tipped over the bar by Given. The resulting corner comes to naught, but this is a really confident and expressive start by Wolves. If there was anything on McLeish's pad, it was probably a game of hangman, or a picture of a Cock and Balls. And something is better than nothing from the home side, who have otherwise started very slowly. N'Zogbia goes for goal, but only manages to clank the ball straight at the wall. I don't think he's in the mood for introspection so early on a bank holiday weekend. He's down for a couple of minutes getting treatment. Eventually the ball's swung over towards Doyle, but it's too high for the striker. Nothing's coming off for either team at the moment. Given is able to parry, and turn the ball away from danger. It's kind of strange, because most of the game is being played out at the ends of the pitch, there's not too much faffing around in the middle, but passes aren't sticking. And when teams win free kicks in dangerous positions, or corners, they waste them. Agbonlahor skins Stearman down the left and zips a low cross towards the six-yard box. On the corner, just to the left of goal, Heskey slides in and whips a hard, low effort inches wide of the post. The sort of action that should be soundtracked by a muted trumpet. Petrov reaches the byline, but with Heskey and N'Zogbia screaming for it in the middle, sends his low centre too close to Hennessey, who claims bravely at the shoes of Heskey. Petrov swings it in to the edge of the six-yard box where, at the near post, Herd flicks a header wide left and high. Not a great effort, but a brave one, seeing he took one hell of a clatter earlier on. The striker tries to get a shot on goal from a tight angle, but his effort is crowded out for a corner. As a Sunderland supporter, I had no optimism when I learned that 'Clattermole' remains our captain. My hope is for our poor early season form to continue therefore bringing the promise of 'the fat Geordie bastard' being sacked. Far better to relocate our mid-season slump to the start of the season if it brings such a result. To get back on topic with Villa (almost), Martin O'Neill please prepare to take over at Sunderland. Wolves have gone 43 games without a goalless draw, according to Sky. And to further take the shine off this encounter, here's Nick Einhorn: "This is only the second top-of-the-table showdown of the season. The first was last weekend, when Bolton and Manchester City, tied for 1st, played each other. This is a sprightly start by Villa: McLeish, a disciple of Alex Ferguson, may well have turned the hairdryer on. He can only steer the ball wide right and handsomely high, though. Wolves have hardly touched the thing since the restart. One wonders whether he is McLeish's sort of player. In his day he might have livened up this drab encounter, and shown us his pants. He cuts into the area and sends a low shot towards the far corner. It's a great effort, and going in, but Hennessey gets down well to palm it out. Wolves hack it clear before Heskey or N'Zogbia can tap it in. N'Zogbia hits a lame effort straight at Hennessey, who swallows it like a tot of fine cognac. Wolves can't string two passes together at the moment. They'll need to settle this down soon, because the home side's tails are up. Petrov wins a corner down the right; he's seeing a lot of the ball. But not for the first time in the match, Petrov's delivery is poor, allowing Wolves to break upfield down the left. Doyle looks to have skinned Warnock in order to race clear into the area, but the referee gives the full back a generous benefit of the doubt as the full back falls to the floor. Or are we talking top at the start of the 'gameweek'. With each email I hate modern football more and more. Only nine months to go until the next summer of sport. First Agbonlahor twists and turns by the penalty spot, but can't get a shot away. And finally Hennessey tips a majestic Herd header over the bar. Wolves hold on, but they're beginning to rock as Villa apply pressure. Hennessey, who is earning his pay, as much as Premier League footballers ever can, gets down well to throw a blanket over a very dangerous fire. But hold on, he's not holding up the Vs and banging on about peace and loving each other (not that there's anything wrong with that). I'm certain the phenomenon of having a table after one or two games played is a Premier League era thing. There was always something nice about the first one being published after three or four matches, and the incandescent disbelief in spluttering "Hold on. He's clear, but Herd gets back well to put the marauder off; Ward's cross is too deep. It's sent to Bent, coming in from the right, 12 yards out. The striker meets the cross with a looping header that for a second looks like dropping into the top-left corner, but though the effort beats the keeper, it also clears the bar and rests on top of the netting. Ward's delivery is guided out of play by a claret shirt on the right for a corner. Foley's set piece causes a collective intake of breath within Villa Park, as it wheechs straight through the six yard box, Given flapping at it alarmingly, a proper connection away from deflecting it into his own net. There will be three added minutes of this, of which this is the first. That's a fair enough call; he's been pretty solid at the back, and a threat up front at set pieces. His performance is all the more impressive after he pushed his face into the post early in the first half. Villa were just about the better side overall, if you were forced to pick, but a draw seems about right. And they're not wrong: as things stand, they're a point above the two Manchester clubs. Publishing the league table early doors won't seem such a daft idea right now. Grim day for Arsenal but Arsène Wenger says he will not be leaving 4. Zeitgeist is an experiment in showing trending news, topics and articles from the Guardian. La Liga had familiar look to it too - but more of that laterabout 58 minutes ago • Read more football tweets from our team• Follow our sport team on a Twitter list . Cock and Ball