Palace Preview: Eagles unbeaten at Selhurst but welcome in-form Wolves
Crystal Palace welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to Selhurst Park on Saturday, 6th November (15:00 GMT) as they look to continue their unbeaten home start to the Premier League season.
Previous meetings
The last time these two sides met, on a cold January afternoon with no fans present, it took a stunning Eberechi Eze strike to set the game alight.
The ball played across the edge of the penalty area, the Palace man dropped his shoulder to feint away from the attentions of the defenders in old gold, and struck a rasping left-footed effort past Rui Patricio and into the back of the net.
It was enough to see Palace claim all three points, and claim their first victory against Wolves in five attempts.
Preview
Palace made it five games unbeaten last weekend as they continued their positive start to life under Patrick Vieira, but that was hardly the headline story.
Travelling to the Etihad to face a Manchester City side capable of challenging any in Europe, Palace produced a stunning performance to secure victory. Goals from Wilfried Zaha and Conor Gallagher bookended an action-packed game, in which Aymeric Laporte was shown a straight red card just before half-time.
After late heartbreak against Brighton & Hove Albion and Arsenal, the result was no more than Palace deserved, and now they return to Selhurst Park – where they are still unbeaten this season – full of confidence.
However, visitors Wolves are also in a rich vein of form. Having suffered a slow start to the season, losing four of the first five Premier League games, they are unbeaten since – claiming 13 points from a possible 15.
New manager Bruno Lage has settled in at Molineux, confirmed by an impressive 2-1 win against Everton last time out, and now Wolves sit seventh in the table just four points behind Manchester City in third.
Tactical overview
Palace’s high-pressing game was on full display at the Etihad, with Vieira’s men unafraid of taking the game to Pep Guardiola’s fearsome attacking unit. Joel Ward and Tyrick Mitchell starred on the flanks, while Conor Gallagher, James McArthur and Cheikhou Kouyate provided the energy and poise in midfield.
Wilfried Zaha was deployed a number nine as he wrought havoc in the Man City defence, but could return to a wider area against Wolves.
The introduction of Hwang Hee-Chan has proved a valuable one for Wolves, accompanying Raul Jiminez and Trincao in attack. Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho provide a solid base in midfield, while Max Kilman provided a goalscoring cameo from defence against Everton.
Team news
Eberechi Eze returned to action for the Under-23s side against Blackburn Rovers on Monday, in the latest stage of his rehabilitation from lengthy injury. He will continue to be assessed before the meeting with Wolves on Saturday. Nathan Ferguson remains out as he progresses in his recovery.
Wolves are still without Pedro Neto, Jonny and Yerson Mosquera through long-term injury. Marcal is a doubt with a calf injury.
Match details
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Saturday, 6th November
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15:00 GMT
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Selhurst Park
How to follow
On PalaceTV+
Live audio commentary of Palace v Wolves will be available on Palace TV+, a subscription service which gives subscribers live access to selected Academy match broadcasts, live audio commentary of all league and cup first-team games, and much more.
Find out more by clicking here.
Social media
You can check out our Instagram story for all of the pre-match build-up and our official Twitter page is bringing you up-to-the-minute match updates, eye-catching photos and more.
Our club website, cpfc.co.uk, is the place to go for team news on the dot, an instant report and all the post-match votes.
The official app
The official Palace app’s match centre is the place to be for everything you need during the Wolves clash. With live stats and alerts, a running match commentary feed and lineups the moment they’re released as well as an instant match report and post-match reaction from Palace TV+, there’s no need to leave the app to follow the Eagles’ efforts.