Wolves v Crystal Palace live match updates

Wolves v Crystal Palace kicks off our first ever live match updates for Matchweek 7 of the 2020/21 Premier League season.

You can keep an eye on the commentary as it happens below, but first, we take a preview into the fixture, the lineups, predictions and much more.

In the previous game, Wolves looked set to snatch a late winner thanks to Raul Jimenez 10 minutes from time, however Jacob Murphy’s 89th-minute free-kick rescued a point for the Magpies shortly after.

Wilfried Zaha added to Jairo Riedewald’s opener to lift Crystal Palace up to fifth in the Premier League table.

Aboubakar Kamara was sent off upon VAR review before Tom Cairney strikes stoppage-time consolation for Fulham.

By the end of Matchweek 6, Palace fell to eighth in the table with 10 points from six games, whilst Wolves ended up ninth with the same.

PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS:

On facing Roy Hodgson and Palace, Nuno said: “Crystal Palace are a very good team, fully of talented players. Roy is a gentleman that I really admire. It will be a pleasure to be with him tomorrow again.

“I can learn a lot of things [from Hodgson]. I wish I had the chance to have a proper dinner, hours to speak and to share with Roy. He’s been a manager in so many countries, he’s seen and worked with so many different players. He managed big clubs; Inter, he’s managed national teams; England, Switzerland, so he has such a rich experience, I wish I could have time to share.

“But sometimes it’s not easy, even before and after the games, all these regulations are there, so it’s not easy for us as managers to share with an open mind. It has to be in a proper place with silence, and a good conversation would be amazing.”

On if he’d still be managing at 73, Nuno added: “I don’t know, but what I know is that now, I want to manage, I want to work. I’m excited to play tomorrow. I just want to compete, and as long as we have this, we will be in the game.”

Roy Hodgson said in his press conference ahead of the game: “Injury news is good. James McCarthy is back in training, Gary Cahill is back, James Tomkins is back. We just need to assess Tyrick before tomorrow who picked up a knock yesterday, and Joel Ward.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jaïro picked for Holland. He deserves a lot of praise for how he’s performed.”

“There aren’t many players in the Premier League who can do what Wilf does.”

“Wolves have had a very good start to the season. They’re a very well oiled unit. We’re aware their confidence is high and they have the same number of points as us.”

“The only possession that interests me is the amount we have in the final third. We didn’t have enough against Brighton but we did against Fulham. We know what we want to produce and what we need to do.”

“I can’t make any complaints about injuries at the back. The squad is as big and competitive as any time I’ve seen at the club. I’m doing my best to keep everyone happy and competing.”

FORM

Wolves Premier League form: WLLWWD
Wolves form (all competitions): LLLWWD

Crystal Palace Premier League form: WWLLDW
Crystal Palace form (all competitions): LWLLDW

PREDICTION

Mark Lawrenson have given his prediction ahead of kick off, and you can see the rest of them scores by simply clicking HERE.

“Wolves should really be heading into this game on the back of three straight wins – they conceded a late equaliser against Newcastle last weekend, when they’d done enough for the three points.

“The way Newcastle were set up to try to stop Wolves is exactly what Crystal Palace will do on Friday, only the Eagles will carry a bit more of a threat at the other end.

“With five goals in his first six league games, Palace forward Wilfried Zaha has already bettered his tally from last season [which was four goals in 38 league appearances]. Zaha is playing very well at the moment and will be dangerous no matter how much possession Wolves have.

“I still fancy Nuno Espirito Santo’s side here, though. Palace are a good hard-working team, but Wolves are not just a good side, they are a classy one.”

Prediction: 2-0

OPTA STATS:

• Wolves have lost three of their last six league meetings with Palace (W2 D1), as many as they had in their previous 13 against the Eagles (W7 D3 L3).
• Palace have won three of their last five away league games against Wolves (L2), though they did lose this exact fixture 0-2 in July last season.
• Currently with 10 points this season courtesy of their three wins and one draw, Palace are looking to make it 13 points from their first seven games of a Premier League season for the first time ever.
• Wolves have picked up 10 points from their six Premier League games this season – their best total at this stage of the season in the competition and their highest such total in a top-flight campaign since 1979-80 (13 pts, assuming 3/pts for a win).
• Since returning to the Premier League for the 2018-19 season, Wolves have failed to score a first half goal in 58 of their 82 matches, the most of any side in the competition over this period. Indeed, Wolves have failed to score a first half goal in each of their last five Premier League games.
• Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha has netted five goals in six Premier League games this season, one more than he managed in 38 in 2019-20. With five goals and one assist this term, the attacker is just one goal/assist off his total goal involvement tally from last season.
• Wolves striker Raúl Jiménez has played 331 minutes against Crystal Palace without scoring in the Premier League – only versus Leicester City (360) and Manchester United (358) has he registered more minutes without a goal in the competition.

LINEUPS

#WWFC XI: Patricio, Boly, Coady (c), Kilman, Semedo, Dendoncker, Neves, Ait-Nouri, Podence, Neto, Raul

#CPFC XI: Guaita, Clyne, Kouyate, Dann, Van Aanholt, Townsend, Milivojevic (c), Riedewald, Schlupp, Batshuayi, Zaha.

Right then, time to keep an eye out for live match updates on Wolves v Crystal Palace from kick off at 8pm…