Five things we loved from Palace’s win over Wolves

First-team

4 Sep 2023

An excellent second-half performance from Crystal Palace saw them compensate for a challenging first 45 minutes, seeing off Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 in the final match before the international break.

A Mateta masterclass

Manager Roy Hodgson admitted both before and after Sunday’s match that Jean-Philippe Mateta hadn’t perhaps always enjoyed the number of opportunities he would have liked at Crystal Palace, up against stern competition for places in the attacking department.

Yet the forward has responded to the challenge of making his mark emphatically in his last two outings; having scored Palace’s first hat-trick in just shy of eight years at Plymouth Argyle last week, his 20-minute appearance against Wolves saw goalscorer turn provider.

Having set up Eze’s first goal of the season with a flick off his back – the scorer later explained “he told me he did it on purpose, so respect to him!” – it was an impudent backheel to Edouard which gave the Frenchman time and space to seal the points soon after.

If Mateta continues to make such an impact as in his last two games, you can’t imagine those opportunities will be short in coming.

The shots flying in

Three goals against Wolves to go with four on the road in Devon in midweek – and after a couple of early-season frustrations in front of goal, there’s every sign the ‘Scored’ column will keep on ticking up.

After four matchrounds, Palace have enjoyed the third-highest shots total (69) in the Premier League – ahead of Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United – and are joint-third (with City and Arsenal) for efforts on target (26).

Factor in that, prior to the match, since Hodgson’s return to Palace, the Eagles had outshot their opponents by 85 (202 shots taken, 117 faced) – the fourth-best differential in the league – and not only the intent, but the successful execution, behind this exciting side becomes apparent.

There’s no place like home

Hodgson began his programme notes for the Wolves game by paying tribute to the “electric atmosphere” at Selhurst Park for the previous match against Arsenal – and that once again came to the fore in SE25 on Sunday afternoon.

It certainly hasn’t proven a happy hunting ground for Wolves, who suffered a fourth consecutive Premier League defeat at Selhurst – and also became the fourth side Palace had won four back-to-back home matches against (after Stoke City, Southampton and Wimbledon – the last team we achieved this against, between 1989 and 1992).

That lies in stark contrast to the form of goalscorer Edouard, whose brace at Selhurst took his percentage of home Premier League goals to 71.4% - the highest of any Palace player to have scored at least 10 times for the club.

The Selhurst sunshine

On the same note, is there any better feeling in football than basking in both the glow of an excellent result, and the warmth of a sunny day at Selhurst Park?

Given the downpour at Brentford the weekend prior, the contrast could hardly have been more stark.

A glorious late summer’s day was the perfect backdrop to a captivating contest ahead of the September international break.

By the time the players return to domestic, proper south London weather will likely have taken root – so this final outing for the sunnies and suncream was one to savour.

A solid start

Five games played in 2023/24, three wins – including progression to the Carabao Cup third-round – and just one defeat – a narrow one, to a penalty, against title contenders – Hodgson declared himself “satisfied” with the opening month of the season.

Heading into the first international break of the campaign, Palace sit seventh in the Premier League table, our highest position since the second week of 2020/21.

And while the manager admitted that the out-of-character performance of the first-half means his players “have got things to think about” ahead of their return against Aston Villa in a fortnight’s time, Sunday’s win was one to put a smile on all faces of a Crystal Palace persuasion – fresh-season optimism abounding.

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