Steve Davis’ young team beat Nottingham Forest on their Molineux debut ahead of Christmas as their quest for glory in the prestigious youth competition got underway. Chem Campbell’s double and a goal from Theo Corbeanu secured a 3-0 win in the third round tie, which set up tonight’s fixture with Palace.
Several members of the under-18s are already regular fixtures in Nuno Espirito Santo’s training squad, with Campbell and Luke Cundle making their senior debuts this season.
Palace are currently sat in fifth place in the U18 Professional Development League Southern group with seven wins from their 16 league matches this season but are unbeaten in their last four in all competitions, while Wolves – a league tier above their rivals – are in seventh place in the U18 Premier League North thanks to their five wins from 13 so far this season.
Tickets for the 7pm kick-off are priced at £4 for adults and £2 for children, with supporters being required to pay for entry to Molineux at the turnstiles situated to the north end of the Billy Wright Lower Stand.
*You can catch all the action as Wolves under-18s take on Crystal Palace this evening, with the game free to view worldwide via WolvesTV and the Wolves App, as commentator Mikey Burrows presents live coverage from 7pm.
The live match stream can be found here, while supporters can also catch the action on the Wolves App – download it now on iOS here and on Android here.
WHEN
Thursday 7pm
WHERE
Molineux
LAST THREE
Wolves
1-3 vs Stoke City (H)
3-0 vs Nottingham Forest (H) FAYC
0-3 vs Blackburn Rovers (A)
Palace
5-2 vs Queens Park Rangers (H)
3-1 vs Cardiff City (A)
4-2 vs Reading (H) FAYC
WHAT THE BOSS THINKS
On putting out his strongest 11 at Molineux
“We always said that in the FA Youth Cup we would go as strong as possible. We started the season well with that group and only played the first four games with that team – we won three of those and drew one, including games against United and Liverpool.
“We then lost four of those players very quickly to the under-23s because of their performances – rightly so – and they’ve played games for the 23s and the first-team already this season. But this is the way it should be; they should be moving up if they need challenging.
“We went with our strongest team in the third round against Forest and now we’ll be as strong as we possibly can be in the fourth round, to hopefully be able to carry that through, as we want to try and have a good run.
“The lads are always excited by this competition and they see it as being a stage to perform and show what they can do, so they’re looking forward to the game themselves.”
On the attacking threat Palace pose
“We’ve done as much analysis on them as we can in the last couple of days building up to the game, in terms of in possession, out of possession, set plays, and tried to cover as much as we can. The players have got the information, so know it’s up to them how they perform.
“I think Palace have a real attacking threat, they’ve scored a lot of goals during their last three games, but even previously to that, they’ve got some pace at the top end and on the wings.
“They’ve got bright players and, from what I’ve seen, attacking is their strength, so our five in defence have got to be performing to their best to contain them – but we’ve also got a threat on our end, and know we can cause them problems as well.”
NEXT FIVE
16/01 Crystal Palace (H) FAYC
01/02 Liverpool (A)
15/02 Sunderland (H)
22/02 Middlesbrough (H)
29/02 West Bromwich Albion (A)
