Report | Crystal Palace 3-2 Wolves

A spirited Wolves side left it too late to fight back against Crystal Palace as the Eagles took all three points during a second-half which was full of goals and action in their latest Premier League meeting.

Hee Chan Hwang came off the bench to get Wolves level from a Pedro Neto cross after Odsonne Edouard had put the hosts ahead with their first attack after the break, before Eberechi Eze and Edouard’s second appeared to give Palace an unassailable lead late on.

Wolves halved the deficit through another Neto delivery, as Matheus Cunha was picked out inside the Palace box in the closing moments of the contest, but it was too little too late for the Old Gold as Palace were able to see out the win.  

The visitors began the game brightly in the south London sunshine without posing a real dangerous threat to Sam Johnstone’s goal. The Palace goalkeeper didn’t have too much to do during a first half where Wolves played plenty of neat football which fell short in the final third of the pitch.

Shots from new number nine Fabio Silva, Joao Gomes, Cunha and Pablo Sarabia were unable to test the former West Bromwich Albion man in the Eagles’ goal.

Despite Wolves’ pressure, the best chances of the half fell the way of the hosts around the 15 minute-mark. Firstly, Eze felt he was brought down inside the Old Gold box by Gomes, but after VAR review no penalty was given.

But just moments later, Palace should have been in front. Jose Sa produced a sloppy pass out of his goal to give the ball straight to Jefferson Lerma and with the goal gaping the former Bournemouth midfielder slotted a pass out to Jordan Ayew who took on a first time shot at goal, but Maximilian Kilman got back on the line brilliantly to block the effort and save his goalkeeper’s blushes.

But Wolves continued to attack throughout the opening period, and Neto was the player who found himself unlucky to find the net for the visitors.

With 34 minutes on the clock, he was found out on the left after several men in Old Gold saw their way at goal blocked by the red and blue shirts of Palace, but he managed to get a shot away which was blocked. He then pulled the first save of the game from Johnstone when he beat his marker before shifting the ball onto his right foot and rasping a shot at goal which the keeper tipped over his crossbar.

Palace had chances of their own before the break as Edouard and Jeffrey Schlupp tested Sa in the Wolves goal, but the Old Gold’s keeper was equal to anything the Eagles were able to offer as the half ended goalless.

Half-time | Palace 0-0 Wolves

The floodgates opened in the second half, and despite having plenty of the ball during the opening stages, Wolves were punished for not turning possession into chances as Palace scored with their first opportunity after the break.

Against the run of play, Palace set Tyrick Mitchell down the left hand side who managed to get past Semedo and deliver a cross into the six yard box and towards the near post, which Edouard met with his boot to poke the hosts into the lead.

Wolves were never out of the game however, and soon levelled the contest up. Substitute Hee Chan Hwang had looked lively following his arrival on the game, and he was the man to give the Old Gold hope when he found Neto’s cross from a free-kick and directed the ball off his shoulder to loop over Johnstone and inside the far post.

However, Palace stepped up a gear in the final half an hour of the match, posing all kind of problems to the Wolves defence and Sa in goal. Schlupp was unable to test the keeper having got on the end of an Eze cross, before Ayew brought a decent stop out of the Portuguese with an effort on target having bundled Rayan Ait-Nouri out the way.

But with just over 10 minutes remaining, Palace added a second. After denying Eze from a free-kick which was heading into the top corner, there was nothing Sa could do moments later. A ball into the box cannoned off the back of substitute Jean-Phillippe Mateta and Eze reacted quickest to divert the ball under the goalkeeper.

Every chance was becoming a goal late on, as Palace extended their lead to two goals through Edouard’s second of the afternoon. Mateta got his second assist as he fed the ball into the path of his strike partner on the edge of the Wolves box, and after taking a touch the Frenchman fired an effort into the bottom corner of the net.

The visitors tries their hardest to get back into the match, with substitute Sasa Kalajdzic trying to replicate his Goodison Park heroics from the week previously, but he was unable to turn Neto’s cross past Johnstone, while the winger had a go himself which was comfortable for the keeper.

After Hugo Bueno’s cross almost sneaked in and Eze had another shot which Sa was equal to, another Neto cross led to a goal. In the dying moments of the game, the winger crossed into the Palace box from the left and Cunha got in ahead of Kalajdzic to head the ball home.

However, there was to be no stunning comeback from Wolves this time as that was the final piece of action as the visitors succumbed to their third defeat in their opening four Premier League outings.

Full-time | Palace 3-2 Wolves

Palace | Johnstone, Ward, Guehi, Andersen, Mitchell, Lerma, Doucoure, Ayew, Eze, Schlupp (Mateta 71), Edouard (Hughes 90).

Unused subs | Henderson, Tomkins, Richards, Riedewald, Clyne, Ahamada, Rak-Sakyi.

Wolves | Sa, Semedo, Dawson, Kilman, Ait-Nouri (Bueno 82), Lemina, J. Gomes (Kalajdzic 82), Neto, Sarabia (Hwang 60), Cunha, Silva (Traore 74).

Unused subs | Bentley, Doherty, Toti, Gonzalez, Fraser.

Referee | Robert Jones