Wolves vs Crystal Palace: Prediction & Match Preview

Wolverhampton Wanderers host Crystal Palace at Molineux in the FA Cup third round on Friday night.

Both sides have posted identical records in the league this season – six wins, four draws and seven defeats from 17 matches – but it will be the first FA Cup clash between the teams for almost 11 years.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s team have not won any of their last four games in the Premier League. The Portuguese coach will be looking for a change in fortunes with the change in competition this weekend.

Their last game in the Premier League was an entertaining 3-3 draw against Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium.

Wolves had taken a 3-1 lead before halftime but let that slip in the second half, as goals from Neal Maupay and Lewis Dunk pulled them back.

Palace, on the other hand, seem to have turned a corner after a horror run of results that included a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of Liverpool last month.

In their last game, they beat bottom club Sheffield United 2-0.

Reason for Wolves vs Crystal Palace predictions:

Wolves have beaten Crystal Palace in each of the teams’ last two encounters.
Wolves have lost just one of their last seven home matches.
Crystal Palace have failed to score on each of their last two trips to Molineux.
Wolves have scored exactly once in four of their last seven home assignments.
Wolves have been eliminated in six of their last eight FA Cup third round ties, going out at this stage last season against Manchester United.

Wolves have beaten Palace 28 times in 68 previous meetings between these two teams, while the Eagles have won 21. There have been 19 draws in this fixture in the past.

Wolves and Crystal Palace have not met in the FA Cup since February 2010, when Danny Butterfield scored a six-minute hat-trick for Palace in a 3-1 win at Selhurst Park.

Three of the five previous FA Cup ties between Wolves and Crystal Palace have gone to replays – all the replays have been won by Palace, whereas the ties without a replay have all been won by Wolves.

Crystal Palace were eliminated in the FA Cup third round last season, last going out at this stage in consecutive seasons as a top-flight club between 1990-91 and 1992-93.

Santo’s men were unbeaten in nine of their last fourteen overall matches and they remained so in six of their former seven appearances at home. They have also failed to score at this venue just twice this whole season.

On the other hand, their counterparts were winless in 11 of their former 15 overall match-ups and their only win in the past six match-days have come against the dead-last placed team in the EPL table – Sheffield United.

On the road, they have won just four times since 2019 and the four victories had come against teams currently placed 17^th, 18^th, 19^th in PL standings, plus a team from the Championship.

You would expect both managers to make several changes to their side but Wolves’ injury problems mean they do not exactly have a wealth of options to choose from and Nuno Espirito Santo could decide to field a stronger team and target a proper cup run.

Our Prediction: Wolves @ 2.09