Key stats
- Crystal Palace have kept a clean sheet in six of their 12 games, only Arsenal (seven) have done this more often in the Premier League this season.
- The Eagles have also kept a clean sheet in each of their last three games in the Premier League, their last longer run of games without conceding a goal in the competition was a run of four games from 22nd February 2020 to 20th June 2020.
- Wolves have failed to score in their last three games in the Premier League, their last longer run of games without scoring a goal in the competition was a run of four games from 27th November 2021 to 11th December 2021.
Highlights
Analysis
Yeremy Pino was awarded the highest Flashscore rating of the match (8.2), while Man of the Match Adam Wharton was given 7.8.
Match report
A quick start was desperately needed from Wolves, but they were somewhat fortunate not to gift Palace one, with just 11 minutes on the clock when Marshall Munetsi fouled Ismaïla Sarr on the edge of the box, leading to a close call with VAR.
Jean-Philippe Mateta then fired fractionally wide of the right-hand post, as the Molineux faithful’s craving for a change in fortune ratcheted ever higher.
Former Eagle Sam Johnstone negotiated his first real test of the afternoon shortly after, when he produced a brilliant diving save to keep out Daichi Kamada’s first-time effort.
As for Wolves, their best chance of the first half fell to João Gomes, who saw a dangerous low shot thwarted well by Dean Henderson, before Ladislav Krejčí fired narrowly over on the rebound.
After holding on to keep Palace goalless up to HT, Wolves would pay dearly for that failure to convert, with two quickfire goals from the Eagles after the hour mark. Adam Wharton had a shot blocked, but Daniel Muñoz was there on the follow-up to fire in high, though a prolonged VAR check would be needed to clear the Colombian’s first goal since early October.
Palace capitalised on Wolves’ freshly downcast nature with a second strike on 69’. Wharton played a role once again, finding Yéremy Pino on the edge of the box, and he organised himself before firing into the roof of the net.
With Wolves now having nothing to lose, they finally rediscovered some attacking verve, with Hwang Hee-chan seeing a shot cleared off the line.
As they have so often done under Oliver Glasner, Palace used their energy efficiently to hold out to notch up their third win in five away league games.
With an all-too-familiar tale unfolding at Molineux despite the promise of a new era, Wolves fans know that a minor miracle will now be needed for survival, especially as no side on less than five points after 12 games of a 38-game PL campaign has ever gone on to stay up.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace)