Wolves 0-2 Crystal Palace: Eagles Move Into Fourth Spot as Wolves Stay Winless

Crystal Palace powered into the Premier League’s top four as they condemned new Wolves boss Rob Edwards to defeat in his first game in charge.

Daniel Munoz and Yeremy Pino struck in the second half to move the Eagles up to fourth with a deserved victory at Molineux.

Oliver Glasner’s side were a class above the hosts with bottom club Wolves’ survival chances looking bleaker by the game, despite Edwards’ arrival from Middlesbrough this month.

Their former player replaced Vitor Pereira, but his side remain winless in the top flight after a poor start, with their last league victory back in April.

In failing to win any of the first 12 games – their first time since the 1983-84 campaign – Wolves also edged closer to Sheffield United’s record of 17 for the longest winless start to a Premier League season.

Jean-Philippe Mateta missed Palace’s best first-half chance, rolling a finish wide when clean through, while the hosts survived a penalty shout after Ismaila Sarr was tripped on the edge of the box by David Moller Wolfe.

The visitors always had a degree of control and took charge with two strikes in six second-half minutes when Munoz fired in from close range, before Pino curled in from the edge of the box for his first league goal.

Jhon Arias missed a golden chance to pull a goal back, prodding wide from two yards as Wolves’ struggles continue, sitting at the foot of the table on just two points and nine adrift of safety.

Wolves analysis: An impossible job for Edwards?

How does Edwards keep Wolves up?

The new head coach has clear confidence in his methods but a 12th game without a victory and nine points behind fourth-bottom West Ham, his side’s survival prospects remain bleak.

Edwards spoke with conviction at his first press conference on Friday and his side clearly worked for him – but came up very short of quality.

Substitute Arias’ late miss, as the hosts chased a way back into the game, summed up Wolves perfectly, all huff and puff but little class or end product.

There seemed to be some rare optimism from the Molineux terraces at the start, an improvement on the angry and frustrated atmosphere of the previous few weeks.

But the game ended in subdued fashion, with the scale of the task clear to Edwards – as if it was not already.

Midlands derbies against Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest are next and there is little evidence to suggest where or when their desperately-needed first league win will come.

Crystal Palace analysis: Eagles show staying power

Under Glasner, Palace have already made history.

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They won their first major trophy with last season’s FA Cup and a subsequent first European campaign has etched the manager’s name into Eagles folklore.

But after moving into the top four, after a third of the season, it is hardly fanciful to believe Palace can maintain their upward trajectory under the Austrian.

His side were quietly classy, the excellent Munoz deserving his goal, and were comfortably better than their struggling hosts.

Only Arsenal have lost fewer games (1) than the Eagles’ (2) this season and in a tight Premier League, with just four points separating Palace and 12th-placed Brentford, Glaser’s side are showing they have the quality to remain among the leading sides.

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There will be harder tests to follow, but they navigated a tricky game at Molineux – especially in the hope of a lift for the hosts in Edwards’ opening game – with a calmness that should serve them well as they look to potentially challenge for a Champions League place.

Source: BBC