Football

Crystal Palace vs Wolves player ratings: Edouard and Eze help Eagles claw three points

  • Crystal Palace hosted Wolves as both sides were looking for a win following a far from perfect start for both sides.
  • The first half ended 0-0 as both sides traded blows, especially with the ball carriers looking to hurt the opposition.
  • A second half double from Edouard and a brilliant Eze goal ensured a 3-2 Palace win despite brave efforts from Cunha and Hwang.

Crystal Palace player ratings: Electric Edward strikes twice

Palace vs Wolves player ratings: Eagles seize tough 3-2 win
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Sam Johnstone 5.5/10: Conceded two goals but no major error or big saves to talk about.

Joel Ward 6/10: A racking long pass that created the goal, the veteran largely held his own against pacy attackers.

Tyrick Mitchell 6.5/10: Overlapped consistently to provide the width, bent a lovely inviting cross for the goal.

Marc Guehi 6/10: Beaten in the air a few times but decent on the ball.

Joachim Andersen 6.5/10: Solid defensively, and his team’s main ball progressor from deep.

Jefferson Lerma 6.5/10: Intercepted some dangerous passes, provided a box to box presence.

Jordan Ayew 7/10: Worked hard defensively in particular to prevent Wolves’ left sided rotations from hurting his team.

Eberechi Eze 8.5/10: Slick, slippery and silky, was the Eagles’ attacking fulcrum.

Jeffrey Schlupp 6/10: Put in everything he had, with energetic wing-play, but technique let him down.

Cheick Doucoure 7/10: Shielded the back four with authority, kept the ball moving smartly.

Odsonne Edouard 8.5/10: Toiled hard all game, fleet footed and stole a march on his counterparts for two very well taken goals.

Substitutes

Jean-Philippe Mateta 7.5/10: Assisted Eze by bringing the ball down and played a lovely backheel for Edouard’s goal.

Will Hughes: N/A

Wolves player ratings: Nimble Neto hurts the eagles

Palace vs Wolves player ratings: Eagles seize tough 3-2 win
Photo by Icon sport

Jose Sa 6.5/10: Apart from one potentially damaging error made some excellent saves, despite conceding three goals.

Rayan Ait-Nouri 6.5/10: Overlapped to provide attacking support, and also won his battles in general apart from the yellow he conceded.

Craig Dawson 5.5/10: Defended ok generally, but not comfortable on the ball which hurt Wolves’ build up.

Nelson Semedo 6.5/10: Covered the right flank with energy and some vital tackles despite being cautioned rather early.

Maximilian Kilman 6.5/10: Solid in defending, a heroic goal-line clearance and safe on the ball. A decent display.

Mario Lemina 7/10: Lots of energy to patrol the area in front of the defence and minimise damage.

Joao Gomes 5.5/10: Was overrun and outskilled by Eze in particular as he had to mark the trickster in the left half space.

Pedro Neto 8/10: Pacy and tricky, hugged the touchline and stretched Palace defence at times and created two goals with wonderful deliveries.

Pablo Sarabia 5/10: Tried to float in from the right, wasn’t entirely effective, subbed off early as a consequence.

Fabio Silva 5.5/10: Tried to close down and prevent the eagles from playing out, but not much attacking wise.

Matheus Cunha 7/10: Some darting runs with the ball, fought till the end as he got a wonderful header in to give his team some fleeting hope.

Substitutes

Hwang Hee-Chan 7/10: Brought directness to Wolves’ play and got the equaliser.

Boubacar Traore 5/10: Couldn’t adjust to Palace’s intensity after coming on.

Sasa Kalajdzic: N/A

Hugo Bueno: N/A

Crystal Palace vs Wolves Match Summary and Highlights

Two sides with exceptional ball carriers started how most people expected, direct and Chaotic. Eberechi Eze danced past a few defenders and had a penalty shout denied. The biggest opportunity of the first half came from Sa under-hitting a pass to Lemina from which Ayew took a first time shot. However Wolves Captain Kilaman showed some heroic piece of defending as he cleared it off the line.

The second half was more entertaining, as Palace scored first, admittedly against the run of play. Left back Mitchel galloped forward down the left and bent in a delicious ball from which Edouard tapped in to give Eagles the lead. Gary O’Neil responded by making a change as he brought on Hwang for the largely ineffective Sarabia.

Hwang made an almost instant impact as he headed/shouldered in a delightful Neto delivery from a set piece to equalise. Palace’s main man then stepped up as he scored a wonderful improvisational goal following some good physical work from Mateta to bring down a racking long ball from Captain Joel Ward.

Mateta was again involved as Edouard killed the game off with a lovely goal after a wonderful give and go, as Mateta created an opening with a clever backheel. In the dying embers of the game Cunha headed in a Pedro Neto cross but any chance of fightback never materialised as the whistle blew right after.

Man of the Match

Palace had a lot of scrutiny on their attacking options but Edouard presented a compelling case for himself with two goals, some wonderful footwork and hold up play. He was hard working off the ball as well, as he pressed diligently and made runs to stretch the black country boys defence. The two goals were different in nature and showed off his repertoire.


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