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Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Crystal Palace: 02/01/2019 – match preview and predicted starting XIs

Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Crystal Palace

Date: 02/01/2019

K/O: 19:45

Venue: Molineux 

Referee: Roger East

There is a sense of déjà vu about the game between Wolves and Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening. Before Leicester’s win at Everton took them into 7th place, both sides were in the same positions in the Premier League table as they were when they met at the start of October (Wolves in 7th and Palace in 14th respectively).

They have both had the same results in their last two as they did in the two before the reverse fixture too; Palace have lost and drawn the last two games (Chelsea and Cardiff) as they did in September before the sides met (Bournemouth and Newcastle). As for Wolves, they have won and drawn their last two (Tottenham and Fulham) just like they did before they went to Selhurst Park (Southampton and Manchester United).

Wolves currently find themselves two points off of Leicester in 7th and only six points off Manchester United in 6th. However, as easy as they could jump into 7th at Molineux, they could also find themselves nearing the bottom half with West Ham, in 11th, just two points behind them.

It is fair to say that Wolves have found their form again, winning four of the seven games they played in December; including two victories against members of the ‘big six’. Before the win over Chelsea on the 5th December, Wolves had not won a game in any of the six league games following their victory over Crystal Palace on the 6th October, losing five of them. However, with an impressive 3-1 victory over a Tottenham side that had scored 11 goals in the previous two games, Wolves certainly seem to have returned to form.

Over the same period, that of the month of December, Palace won three of their seven matches, including that famous victory away at Manchester City. However, they still struggle to score goals, as demonstrated by their failure to score a goal in either of their last two home games against Cardiff on Boxing Day and Chelsea last time out. In fact, the South London side have only managed to score more than one goal on five occasions in the league this season, winning three of them, and splitting the other two results between a draw and a loss. There are only three teams who have scored more than two on fewer occasions, and they are Fulham (four), Newcastle (three), and Huddersfield (once).

In 14th place, sitting on 19 points from the first 20 games of the season, Palace are six points behind rivals Brighton in the table. But, they will be hoping more to move away from the sides just a point behind them, as Newcastle, Cardiff, and even Southampton on 15 points, face difficult games against Manchester United, Tottenham, and Chelsea respectively.

In meetings between the two sides, Wolves have won four out of the last 10 league matches, the most recent of which was the reverse fixture in October, when a Matt Doherty goal was enough to give the West Midlands side the full three points. Palace had won the two games prior to this most recent game, with an aggregate score of 5-2, when both were Championship sides back in 2013.

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Wolverhampton Wanderers

Both sides have pretty much their full squads to choose from, with just a couple of niggling injuries causing concerns over the selection. Diogo Jota, who has missed the last three games, could return to the match-day squad if he can prove to manager Nuno Espírito Santo that he is 100% fit in training.

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The other injury concern is over pacey winger Adama Traore who, much like Jota, picked up an injury to his thigh after playing a part in the win over Tottenham. It is unclear when the Spanish born winger will be back in the squad as he is currently being assessed, but the game against Palace could come too soon, or even indeed the FA Cup game with Liverpool.

With a rotation policy in place, it should mean that the likes of João Moutinho, Morgan Gibbs-White, and Hélder Costa come in to the starting XI after coming on against Spurs, at the expense of Leander Dendoncker, Ivan Cavaleiro and Traore.

Crystal Palace

As always, the only one of Roy Hodgson’s squad that is unavailable for selection is striker Christian Benteke, whose return from knee injury draws ever closer. A return to the squad has been stated for after the FA Cup game with Grimsby Town and with Palace in desperate need to find some goals, they will be hoping he returns with the golden touch.

As mentioned, there has been a need for someone to score more goals at Palace, taking the pressure off the likes of Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend, and with rumours circling that Liverpool youngster Dominic Solanke will sign on loan for the rest of the season, this should prove welcome news to the Palace faithful.

German midfielder Max Meyer will be hoping for a place in the starting XI after not starting against Chelsea, with Jefferey Schlupp the most likely candidate to make way for him. With the likes of Alexander Sørloth, Jordan Ayew, and the recently returning Callum Wickham in the squad, Roy could look to freshen up the frontline, but is more than likely to go with the pair of Zaha and Townsend once again.

Predicted Starting XIs

Wolverhampton Wanderers (3-4-3): Patrício; Bennett, Coady, Boly; Doherty, Moutinho, Neves, Jonny; Gibbs-White, Costa, Jiménez

Crystal Palace (4-4-2): Guaita; Wan-Bissaka, Tonkins, Sakho, van Aanholt; McArthur, Milivojević, Kouyaté, Meyer; Townsend, Zaha

Score Prediction: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Crystal Palace 1

Crystal Palace looked tired and lethargic against Chelsea, allowing them to control the possession until they were ultimately broken down, on the other hand, Wolves looked refreshed and energetic against a free-scoring Spurs side. I would assume the same for this game, with the key battles being between whose full-backs can influence the game more.

Migtavius

A Crystal Palace fan in my 30's, I co-host a podcast about Fantasy Premier League (FPL) with YouTuber Nymfria.

Can easily contact me on Twitter, where I'm normally posting somethings about some stuff.

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