Juan Pablo Angel's double helped Aston Villa make a mockery of Wolves' Premiership credentials at Molineux.

Angel netted a goal in each half and joined Thomas Hitzlsperger and Olof Mellberg on the scoresheet as the visitors cantered home with embarrassing ease.

Wolves' sturdy home form was washed away by a mixture of fine Villa moves and inept defending.

And, with consecutive trips to Liverpool and Chelsea now looming, Wolves' latest calamity is likely to prove the costliest of the lot.

Wolves have won just four solitary points on their travels this season and the home form they have long relied on simply evaporated here.

Villa were allowed to dominate from the start, forcing four corners in the first three minutes and coming close through Lee Hendrie.

By the time Hitzlsperger hammered his side ahead in the seventh minute Villa had already forced five corners and almost scored through Hendrie.

Mellberg's second for Villa in the 17th minute came from the 10th corner for the visitors and Lee Naylor's 24th-minute howler allowed Angel to wrap the game up well before the break.

To add to Wolves' woes Vio Ganea missed a penalty in first-half stoppage time before Angel completed the rout with half an hour remaining on the clock.

Hitzlsperger was at the root of most of Villa's early chances and his opener was a goal of pure class.

The German ran rings around Jody Craddock on the edge of the Wolves box before lashing an unstoppable shot past Paul Jones from a tight angle.

Nolberto Solano and the excellent Hitzlsperger again each went close as the visitors totally dominated.

And Mellberg shed his marker at the near post 18 minutes in to head home Hitzlsperger's corner while Paul Ince provided the sum total of Wolves' early chances with a long range effort which went wide after 20 minutes.

Gareth Barry came closer from distance at the other end and, just when Wolves thought it could not possibly get any worse, Naylor gifted Villa their third with a mighty defensive howler in the 24th minute.

The full-back was caught hovering eight yards from his own goal and Angel simply stole in and poked the ball over Jones and into the net.

Barry shot straight at Jones from close range and Hitzlsperger blazed over as Villa refused to let up.

Ganea had Wolves' best chance from open play just past the half hour when he bustled into the box but was denied by a brave save from Thomas Sorensen.

Hendrie hammered the Wolves bar from close range before Ganea tumbled under Mellberg's challenge to win the spot-kick which he knocked straight to Sorensen.

Wolves began the second half a little brighter with Ganea only denied the vital final touch to Henri Camara's cross by the combined efforts of Sorensen and Mellberg in the box.

At the other end, Hendrie shot just wide having been found by Angel completely unmarked in the Wolves box.

And Angel grabbed the fourth in the 58th minute after winning a race with Craddock to reach Solano's superb through-ball and shoot past Jones.

That put an end to fanciful Wolves dreams of repeating their comeback from three goals down against Leicester in October - and possibly also to their Premiership dream.

Ganea and Rae both shot wide late on but by then impressive Villa were in cruise control.

And even some Wolves fans rose to acknowledge Angel's impressive afternoon when he was substituted 12 minutes from time.

Teams

Wolverhampton Jones, Naylor, Butler, Craddock, Irwin (Clyde 65), Kennedy, Rae, Ince, Camara, Ganea, Cort (Iversen 65).

Subs Not Used: Oakes, Newton, Miller.

Booked: Ganea.

Aston Villa Sorensen, Samuel, Mellberg, Johnsen, De la Cruz, Barry, Hitzlsperger, Hendrie (Whittingham 82), Solano, Angel (Crouch 78), Vassell (Luke Moore 60).

Subs Not Used: Dublin, Postma.

Booked: Hitzlsperger, Samuel.

Goals: Hitzlsperger 7, Mellberg 18, Angel 24, 59.

Att: 29,386

Ref: P Durkin (Dorset).