Crystal Palace vs Wolverhampton Wanderers. Premier League.
Selhurst ParkAttendance25,715.
Watch match highlights from 5.15pm on Saturday on Sky Sports mobile apps
Saturday 6 October 2018 13:36, UK
Christian Benteke will remain sidelined for Crystal Palace as they host Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday.
The striker is suffering with a knee injury and although manager Roy Hodgson confirmed he is making good progress, he will not feature in the first-ever Premier League meeting between the two sides.
Wolves are currently four places and five points ahead of Crystal Palace in the table, and Hodgson is preparing for a tough game.
"Wolves pose a threat. Their start has been excellent, they're a good team. We've watched them as much as we can. It's going to be a big test, we're preparing for a difficult game," he said.
Nuno Espirito Santo insists Crystal Palace are not a one-man team and does not think the Eagles are over-reliant on Wilfried Zaha.
He said: "All the players of Crystal Palace have quality, Zaha, (Andros) Townsend, (Cheikhou) Kouyate, (Mamadou) Sakho, (Wayne) Hennessey.
"We cannot look at the team as just at an individual, it would be a big mistake. We know the strengths but at the same time we know the weaknesses.
"I only look at all the squad, I know and have passed information to the players that we are going to find a very good team, full of quality, a good manager and a tough environment."
Scott Dann and Connor Wickham are back in training for Crystal Palace although Saturday's game may come too soon for the pair.
Wolves will set a new Premier League selection record if they remain unchanged at Crystal Palace as Nuno could name the same side for the eighth straight game since the opening day in August.
The manager has no new fitness concerns so last week's goal hero Ivan Cavaleiro, who came off the bench to score with his first touch in the Premier League against Southampton, is likely to remain a substitute.
Crystal Palace have won their last three games against Wolves in all competitions, with this their first meeting since New Year's Day 2013 in the Championship.
If Crystal Palace fail to score, they will be the second team this season alone to fail to score in their opening four home Premier League games (after Huddersfield). This had only happened twice in the previous 119 English top-flight seasons combined before 2018-19 (West Brom in 1921-22 and Everton in 1998-99).
Wolves have won three of their last four Premier League games (D1) - as many as they had in their previous 39 in the top-flight (W3 D12 L24).
For Crystal Palace in the Premier League in 2018, only Wilfried Zaha (11) has been involved in more goals than Patrick van Aanholt (6 goals, 2 assists).
Wolves have scored a league-high 88% of their Premier League goals in the second half of games so far this season (7/8).
Crystal Palace are getting sucked towards the bottom again after a couple of poor results. This is another big game for both sides. I really like Wolves as a side, they've been outstanding so far this season. They get the ball down and play and are giving the top flight a real good go. I did think they were a little bit fortunate against Southampton, who were getting on top before the first goal. But once again they got the result. They looked good again, play good football and I'm backing them to get another result this week at Selhurst Park.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2 (10/1 with Sky Bet)
