Wolverhampton-Crystal Palace is a match valid for the 33rd day of the Premier League and is played on Tuesday at 8:30pm: TV, predictions.
Risk to complicate their lives again Wolverhampton, fresh from their bloody defeat in last Saturday’s direct clash with Leicester. The Wolves had an opportunity to close any talks regarding staying in the top flight and further sink a direct competitor but threw it away in a rather naive manner, being reeled in by the Foxes (2-1) after going ahead in the first quarter of an hour with a goal by Brazilian Cunha.
Taking a look at the current Premier League standings, one quickly realizes that there are those who are definitely worse off right now than Wolverhampton. However, the black-and-gold coach Julen Lopetegui definitely does not want his men to consider themselves already safe with six days left to play. And he made that clear on Saturday at the end of the match. Yes, because the six-point lead over third-last place, while still a good margin, is still no guarantee of salvation. Especially if Wolves run into more defeats similar to the one with Leicester. Wolverhampton after the King Power Stadium misstep slipped to 14th place, joined by West Ham on 34 points, six more than the Leicester-Everton pair. And the calendar does not promise anything good: in the last six rounds of the championship Lopetegui’s team will in fact face almost exclusively opponents who are ahead of it in the standings. It is therefore necessary to score at all costs with Crystal Palace and Everton, two games that the Wolves will have the advantage of playing in front of their home crowd, where they have won five out of seven matches in 2023.
Eagles regenerated by Hodgson
The Spaniard is unlikely to bring the Wolves back to the left side of the table, but on the other hand he has found a way to turn around an attack that still remains among the least prolific: Wolverhampton have found the way to goal for seven consecutive games.
Doucouré
In the midweek round at the Molineux comes a team reinvigorated by the change in the bench as Crystal Palace, which in the most difficult moment decided to exonerate Patrick Vieira and rely on the experienced Roy Hodgson, already in charge of the Eagles from 2017 to 2021. With the former Inter Milan coach at the helm came three wins in a row, topped by as many as nine goals. On Saturday, however, the Londoners did not go beyond a draw (0-0) with Everton. Salvation in any case remains very close: they are nine points ahead of the relegation zone.
The prediction
Crystal Palace has won the last four confrontations with Wolves, including the first leg match. The Eagles, reborn under Hodgson, “see” salvation and should be able to avoid defeat at Molineux as well in a match with at least one goal on each side.
The likely lineups for Wolverhampton-Crystal Palace
- WOLVERHAMPTON (4-4-2): Jose Sa; Semedo, Kilman, Dawson, Bueno; Adama Traoré, Joao Gomes, Ruben Neves, Matheus Nunes; Cunha, Podence.
- CRYSTAL PALACE (4-3-3): Johnstone; Ward, Andersen, Guéhi, Mitchell; Schlupp, Doucouré, Eze; Olise, Mateta, Ayew.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
