Ruben Neves scored from the penalty spot to help Wolves produce one of the narrow football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. Early in the match, a right-wing corner from Ruben Neves deflected off the legs of Palace defender Joachim Andersen and into the goal. In stoppage time, following Sam Johnstone’s foul on Pedro Neto, the Wolves captain clinched the victory from the penalty spot. Long stretches of the second half saw the impressive away team try to equalize, with Eberechi Eze twice coming near as tensions in Molineux rose. However, some frantic defending allowed Wolves to hold on, and the penalty late in the game relieved some of the tension. With their third win in as many games, Wolves, who were last in the Premier League standings at the time of Julen Lopetegui’s appointment, move up a spot to thirteenth.
Wolves were under pressure going into the game after Lopetegui pleaded with the home crowd to support his team after they lost to Leicester on Saturday. The adjustments Roy Hodgson made might have improved their prospects. The Palace manager made four team changes and gave rare debuts to Will Hughes and Luka Milivojevic while citing a busy schedule. It’s possible that this hindered their early fluidity because Wolves’ excellent start placed them in charge right away. Hugo Bueno, who has since returned to action, constantly attacked down the left, and it was from his cross that the vivacious Diego Costa forced the corner that resulted in Wolves’ opening goal. Since his arrival, Costa has only managed one goal.
As the game went on, Palace’s in-form players started to have an impact, with Michael Olise probing and Eberechi Eze firing a shot in the direction of the goal. The greatest opportunity of the first half belonged to Albert Lokonga, whose shot was stopped by Jose Sa’s left hand. Tensions increased as the Wolves withdrew, and Eze made several tries from a distance that alarmed the home crowd. However, Johnstone’s sloppy touch in stoppage time resulted in an excessive challenge on substitute Neto, which might have easily resulted in the custodian being sent.
Nevertheless, Neves beat him from the penalty spot, sending the Sir Jack Hayward Stand spectators behind the goal into a relief-fueled ecstasy. For these two teams, the season has been difficult. Both parties can now confidently anticipate trying again the next time. Wolves have won their previous three games at Molineux without giving up a goal, lifting them out of the relegation zone. Lopetegui, who had asked the supporters to create a mood, was pleased with what he heard.
“I believe that we have won the most recent games because of the strong support of our fans at our most trying times,” Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui said. “Because of this, I believe that fan no. 12 is the audience, and we are all extremely pleased.”
For the second time ever, also in November 2021, Wolves have won three straight Premier League games at Molineux. With 73 yellow cards and six red cards for Wolves and 73 yellow cards and three red cards for the Eagles, Wolves and Crystal Palace ended this match as the two most carded teams in the Premier League this season. The earliest own goal in a Premier League game since Luke Shaw for Manchester United at Newcastle in October 2020 was scored by Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen at 2 minutes and 22 seconds.
“In the second half, we played a lot of good football and had a lot of ball possession,” Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson said. “Many corner kicks, but they did a good job of stopping the crosses. It was really difficult to get the space to score the equalizer I thought we would get and deserve, especially toward the end when they switched to a back five. The fact that we lose 2-0 after giving up a penalty is not a fair representation of what happened, in my opinion.”
After Damien Delaney and Tony Popovic, Andersen is the only Crystal Palace player to score two own goals in a single Premier League season. Only Yaya Toure (11/11) and Dimitar Berbatov (9/9) have greater 100% conversion rates in the history of the league than Ruben Neves, who has converted all eight of his Premier League penalties.
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