Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Crystal Palace. Premier League.
MolineuxAttendance31,395.
Match report and free highlights as Crystal Palace produce a superb first-half display to beat Wolves; Jean-Philippe Mateta and a Wilfried Zaha penalty put them in control at the break; Wolves struggled to break down Palace with Raul Jimenez starting on the bench.
Saturday 5 March 2022 19:40, UK
Crystal Palace produced a sensational first-half performance to further damage Wolves' top-four hopes with goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta and a Wilfried Zaha penalty.
The hosts were punished for their slow start and have now lost their last three Premier League games to leave them seven points adrift of Manchester United in fourth.
Palace set the tempo from the start with Mateta scrambling in the opener after 19 minutes before Max Kilman brought down Jeffrey Schlupp in the box, and Zaha expertly dispatched the spot-kick.
Patrick Vieira's side have now lost just twice in their last 11 matches across all competitions and were deserved winners at Molineux to lift them up to tenth.
Wolves' season, in contrast, is in danger of petering out with this game the latest in their goal-shy campaign that has seen them score only 24 times.
They rarely looked like scoring and had goalkeeper Jose Sa to thank for a string of saves to keep them in the match. He denied Michael Olise superbly just before half-time, sprawling to his right to keep out the Palace winger's curling shot.
Then he saved from Conor Gallagher early in the second half as Wolves tried to launch a comeback. Raul Jimenez was brought on to try and inspire them, but had little impact on the final 30 minutes.
Wolves sub Chiquinho, a January signing, did have a good chance late on yet was denied by Vicente Guaita, who went largely untroubled across the afternoon.
Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira was full of praise for how his side played, highlighting their first-half as one of the best he'd seen from them since becoming manager last summer.
"It was a really good performance," he said. "From the first minute to the last one we played well, worked hard and I'm really pleased.
"We were brave from the first minute, we defended higher, we put them under pressure, we played forward, we created chances and the first-half was one of the best since I've been here.
"In the second half we got a little bit tired. In the last 20, 30 minutes it was difficult to get out of our own half but we rolled our sleeves up and defended well. I'm really pleased about the character and personality we showed. We knew that we were going to go through a difficult period in the second half and we managed it really well.
"It's just about keeping the momentum and demanding, the players have been responding well. We want to improve as a team. We played well lately but what we were missing was the win and we managed to have the win today."
Bruno Lage sent a warning to his younger players after blaming a first-half injury to Ki-Jana Hoever on the right-back's lack of preparation.
"Ki is a good example of the young kids, they want everything to happen [now]," said Lage in his post-match press conference. "When you are out and your teammate is playing, and you are not training at the intensity, you are not preparing yourself and after, when you have a chance, these kinds of things happen.
"I have too many kids in my team that sometimes don't work the way they should work. They do not prepare the way they should prepare and after, when they come inside [the team], these kinds of things happen.
"When they are in training they are thinking a lot, 'Oh I'm not playing', and I said to them in the first day when I started, 'We are here, you need to continue to work. The first target is to work and improve.'
"Injuries can happen, but this one happened because he was not prepared because Ki sometimes doesn't work in the same intensity. This warning is not only for Ki, it's for all the kids we have in our team.
"They need to understand that I don't waste time with guys who don't work hard every day to improve. I can see guys who are 35 years old and they don't play, like Joao (Moutinho) didn't (at West Ham), and they are trying to win balls in the air, 'Hey, look at me, I'm here'."
Wolves will next face Watford in the Premier League on Thursday March 10 at 7.30pm.
Crystal Palace will take on Manchester City in the Premier League on Monday March 14 at 8pm, live on Sky Sports.
