Journalist Luke Hatfield has said that Fernando Marcal's recent form has left himself "teetering on the edge" of being dropped from the Wolves side.

The left-back has started every Premier League game this season but was substituted with 16 minutes against Aston Villa on Saturday, which proved the catalyst for Wolves' remarkable late comeback.

The man that replaced Marcal, Daniel Podence, teed up Romain Saiss to reduce the deficit before captain Conor Coady and Ruben Neves completed a truly astonishing turnaround from Bruno Lage's men.

Despite the victory, Hatfield said that Marcal didn't exactly do himself justice at Villa Park.

What are Marcal's stats this season?

As mentioned above, the Brazilian has started every league game this season and has played 90 minutes in all but two of them.

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ENTER GIVEAWAY

But Marcal's WhoScored rating doesn't exactly cover himself in glory. He's been the joint 10th-best player in Lage's squad this season, with an average mark of 6.63.

Marcal wasn't given much of a chance to impress under Nuno Espirito Santo last term following his arrival from Lyon last summer, starting six Premier League matches through the campaign.

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Lage can't be accused of the same and has stuck by the defender despite some sticky form over the previous few weeks.

But Hatfield reckons that his performance against Aston Villa – with his 6.18 rating the second-worst of the campaign – could prove costly for the 32-year-old.

What did Hatfield say?

When asked whether his showing at Villa Park could prove the final straw, Hatfield told GIVEMESPORT: "I don't know whether it's quite the final straw, but he's certainly teetering on the edge of it. It was another performance that was a bit meh.

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"We know he's not the most attacking player and the system that Lage plays, he does want some offensive output in that position."

Who could replace Marcal in the starting XI?

There's only really one option here and that's 20-year-old Frenchman Rayan Ait-Nouri. The youngster impressed enough in his first season in England from Angers to earn himself a permanent contract with Wolves.

But Ait-Nouri hasn't yet been given the opportunity to showcase his talent on a regular basis under Lage just yet, with both of his starts coming in the Carabao Cup and his only minutes in the league coming in the latter stages against Tottenham.

Ait-Nouri got a decent amount of experience in the Premier League last season, though, and if Marcal's form doesn't improve quickly, then he might just be called upon.