Crystal Palace 2 Wolves 0 - Report

A tight first half, in which the hosts dominated possession, saw Wolves adopt a counter attacking game as they tried desperately to fashion some chances.

It ended goalless but with Wolves needing some changes to spark the game into life.

In the second half those changes only came after Wilfried Zaha had curled the hosts in front.

VAR then denied Wolves a penalty before Conor Gallagher, via a big deflection, put Palace 2-0 up.

Wolves huffed and puffed looking for a way back into the game but ultimately fell short as they tasted defeat for the first time since mid-September.

Bruno Lage named an unchanged side following the 2-1 win over Everton on Monday, sticking with the 3-4-3 formation.

Francisco Trincao was rewarded with an improved performance against The Toffees by keeping his place, leaving Adama Traore on the bench.

The only change on the bench saw young goalkeeper Louie Moulden, fresh from playing for the under-23s the night before, replace under-18s goalkeeper James Storer.

Young midfielder Luke Cundle, who did not play for the under-23s and travelled with the squad on Friday afternoon, continued his spell in the squad and was named among the substitutes.

Patrick Vieira made one change to his starting XI after their superb 2-0 win over Manchester City last time out, starting in a 4-3-3 formation.

Christian Benteke came back in, as Jordan Ayew dropped to the bench. Jean-Philippe Mateta also dropped out of the squad, as Jairo Riedewald came in.

Early on Wolves were happy to sit back and defend in their shape as Palace aimed to gather forward momentum with the backing of their home crowd.

But the first sight of goal almost opened up for the visitors when Raul Jimenez looked to slip Trincao in on goal, but centre-back Marc Geuhi mopped up the danger.

Joao Moutinho then got a needless booking when he brought down Odsonne Edouard as the striker broke forward towards the Wolves goal. The resulting free-kick from 35 yards was wasted by the hosts and came to nothing.

Edouard then did get a shot away, on the turn in the box, but Jose Sa was equal to it. He spilled the ball briefly and pounced back on it, but the oncoming Gallagher caught the goalkeeper in the head with his trailing leg. After receiving some treatment on the pitch Sa was able to continue.

A scramble in the Palace box then presented a half chance to each of the Wolves front three, but none of them were able to connect sweetly with their strikes. By the 20th minute, the game had opened up more to allow opportunities for both sides.

Hwang Hee-chan was almost played in by Ruben Neves until Joel Ward made a superb recovery tackle. Wolves were relying on counter attacks as the hosts dominated possession and often won the midfield battle.

Wolves’ clearest chance of the game fell to Jimenez after 38 minutes when he met a Moutinho corner. His header, from six yards, was straight at goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.

Neither side was able to break the deadlock before half-time as they entered the break drawing 0-0. Palace had dominated possession in the first half, having 64 per cent of the ball, but Wolves also created one or two openings on the counter attack.

The options before Lage seemed obvious at half-time, either bring Leander Dendoncker on and play three in midfield to regain some control, or bring Traore on for his counter attacking abilities.

But the head coach chose to stick with the same team as they emerged for the second half, with Palace also unchanged.

As the game restarted Wolves had a handful of set pieces, including three corners in a row, but were unable to make them count.

Zaha then had a characteristic swipe out at Max Kilman, before both players got heated, but it was quickly diffused. The Palace winger then dived in the box but nothing was given, including a yellow card for simulation.

Wolves made it too easy for Edouard to dance into the box and shooting range, but Romain Saiss stepped up to make an important block to deny his effort. Moments later, the defender made another important piece of defending when he got a toe on a pass that was bound for Edouard and would have sent him through on goal.

As the hosts began to pile more pressure on Wolves, who started to open up more at the back, Benteke then had a header from a corner but directed it straight at Sa.

Wolves were looking for more passes into the channel as Jimenez started to occupy those areas, but they found it difficult to put the final ball together and trouble the Palace defence.

The battle between Zaha and Kilman was raging on, too, after the Palace man had swapped wings. The Wolves defender made an error that allowed the winger to race into the box, but he recovered and made a brilliant sliding tackle in the box.

Shortly after the hour mark Palace’s pressure paid off as they took the lead. Wolves were too slow to close down James McArthur on the edge of the box and the defence was too slow to get out. A decisive pass from the midfielder put Zaha in and he curled the ball into the far bottom corner. It was initially given offside by the linesman, but a VAR check found he had been played onside by Conor Coady and Saiss.

Following the goal Lage brought on both Traore and Daniel Podence for Trincao and Nelson Semedo, in an attacking switch.

And almost instantly Wolves were awarded a penalty when Rayan Ait-Nouri was brought down by Ward. However, a VAR check found the contact had started just outside the box and the decision was overturned and changed to a free-kick. That then came to nothing for Wolves.

At the other end, Edouard almost found Palace’s second when his close-range shot was saved well by Sa. The follow-up was then blazed across goal with no home man there to tap it in.

The second finally came when Wolves, once again, failed to close down Gallagher on the edge of the box. He danced forward with the ball and his effort took a generous deflection off Coady to wrongfoot Sa and put the hosts in a commanding position.

Wolves tried to fire back immediately with a low free-kick from Moutinho that needed saving, but Guaita did well.

A mix-up between Zaha and Benteke was all that stopped Palace getting a third as the game ticked beyond the 87th minute. At this point, there was no sign of a late Wolves revival.

And the revival never came. Wolves offered little threat in the closing minutes as Palace saw the game out with ease.

It brought Wolves’ Premier League action to a disappointing end before the international break after a positive start to the week with a win over Everton.

Wolves: Sa, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Semedo (Traore, 68), Neves, Moutinho, Ait-Nouri, Trincao (Podence, 68), Jimenez, Hwang (Silva, 90).

Subs not used: Ruddy, Moulden, Hoever, Boly, Dendoncker, Cundle.

Crystal Palace: Guaita, Ward, Guehi, Andersen, Mitchell, McArthur (Olise, 79), Kouyate, Gallagher, Zaha, Benteke (Ayew, 89), Edouard (Schlupp, 79).

Subs not used: Butland, Tomkins, Kelly, Clyne, Riedewald, Milivojevic.