Crystal Palace 4 (Nketiah 27 & 32, Chilwell 50, Eze 86) Wolves 2 (Agbadou 24, Strand Larsen 62)
Wolves’ away campaign for the 2024/25 Premier League came to close with a eventful, but disappointing defeat at the hands of FA Cup winners Crystal Palace on Tuesday evening.
Emmanuel Agbadou’s first goal for the club had opened the scoring in the first half and set Wolves on track for what they though would be an enjoyable trip to the capital, but Eddie Nketiah scored twice in the space of five minutes to swing the momentum Palace’s way.
Ben Chilwell’s deflected free-kick opened up a two-goal lead which Jorgen Strand Larsen halved by heading in Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s corner, but Eberechi Eze came off the bench to wrap up the win late on and condemn Wolves to a third straight loss.
Starting in a lively atmosphere in the wake of Crystal Palace’s Wembley success, the Eagles had started on the front foot and Ismaila Sarr headed an early Chilwell free-kick wide, before the full-back himself dragged the next opportunity wide on his left foot.
However, Wolves settled and opened the scoring from a set piece. Pablo Sarabia’s corner was deep and headed back across goal by Strand Larsen, and Agbadou leapt highest to power a header over the line, despite the attempts of Nketiah on the line, with the technology confirming the ball had crossed.
However, within a matter of minutes Palace were level with a goal which won’t have pleased Vitor Pereira. Neither Rodrigo Gomes, nor Nasser Djiga could clear their lines and Nketiah squeezed an effort home, despite a touch from Dan Bentley.
The former Arsenal man was responsible with turning the game on its head soon after too, with Ismaila Sarr punishing Toti for being caught out of position and squaring for Nketiah to make it 2-1.
Goncalo Guedes twice came close to pulling Wolves level before the break, however. First, his deflected drive, following good work by Rayan Ait-Nouri, flew out for a corner, before he crashed an effort into the side netting as the whistle went for the break.
Half-time | Crystal Palace 2-1 Wolves
The first moment of note after the break saw Bentley once again picking the ball out of his net. There was an element of misfortune around it, as Chilwell’s free-kick took a big deflection off the goalkeeper’s wall and nestled into the bottom corner.
Soon after the hour mark however, Wolves were back in it again. Bellegarde’s corner was on the money for Strand Larsen, whose header was too power for Henderson and flew into the top corner for 3-2.
At that point Wolves were looking the more likely and Guedes’ stinging volley needed a stunning save from Henderson to keep the home side ahead, and a deflected strike from Marshall Munetsi had the goalkeeper flying through the air soon after.
However, the night belonged to the Eagles and the win was sealed when Nelson Semedo was left exposed with Eze, who came inside and scuffed an effort back across Bentley and into the corner.
The goalkeeper did produce a good save to deny Jean-Philippe Mateta in stoppage time, and Daniel Munoz shot over at the back post, as Wolves were beaten on the road.
Full-time | Crystal Palace 4-2 Wolves
Crystal Palace | Henderson, Munoz, Ward (Kamada 71), Lacroix, Richards, Chilwell, Lerma, Hughes (Devenny 46), Sarr (Franca 63), Esse (Eze 81), Nketiah (Mateta 81).
Unused sus | Turner, Mitchell, Clyne, Kporha.
Wolves | Bentley, R Gomes (Hwang 81), Djiga (Semedo 46), Agbadou, Toti, Ait-Nouri, Andre (J Gomes 46), Bellegarde, Sarabia (Cunha 67), Guedes, Strand Larsen (Munetsi 67).
Unused subs | King, Doherty, Bueno, Lima.
Referee | David Webb
