Wolves vs Crystal Palace preview, team news, kick-off

Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Wolves vs Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Friday; Kick-off 8pm.

Team news

Wolves are likely to have an unchanged squad for Friday's Premier League visit of Crystal Palace.

Boss Nuno Espirito Santo confirmed a number of players need to be assessed for knocks but he is expected to have close to a fully fit squad to pick from.

Jonny remains sidelined as he continues to recover from the serious knee injury he suffered at the end of last season.

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Crystal Palace have been handed a number of fitness boosts ahead of their trip to Molineux. Gary Cahill and James Tomkins are fully fit after respective injuries while Jordan Ayew and Jack Butland are both available following their periods of Covid-19 self-isolation.

James McCarthy has returned to training this week after sustaining an injury on international duty and Tyrick Mitchell will be subject to a late fitness test after taking a knock in training yesterday. However, Wayne Hennessey, Connor Wickham and Joel Ward remain out.

How to follow

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Follow Wolves vs Crystal Palace in our dedicated live match blog. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel one hour after the final whistle.

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Jones Knows' prediction

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You know that fiddly 45-minute job you've got to do but have been putting it off? Do it in the first half of this one.

Here, we have two managers that actively play for a clean sheet at the break then try and push on as the game develops in the second period.

Since the start of last season, Wolves have scored just eight goals in the first half of their 21 home matches, while Palace have also managed exactly eight in their 21 away games. In that period, when analysing the ever-present teams in the Premier League, only Burnley have scored fewer first-half goals. It is a shame that Sky Bet are only offering 13/8 on a 0-0 correct score at the break as that looks a bet to follow, but the price is tight enough.

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So, I am assessing this as a second-half game. Palace have quietly gone about their business this season. Believe it or not, win on Friday and it will be their best-ever start to a Premier League season.

However, Wolves are usually pretty reliable at beating mid-to-low ranked rivals at home: Palace, Norwich, Everton, West Ham, Bournemouth and Watford all were dispatched by Nuno's side last season without conceding. And Newcastle were lucky not to be added to that list last weekend, nicking a 1-1 draw despite registering an xG of just 0.27.

JONES KNOWS PREDICTS: 1-0 (9/2 with Sky Bet)

Opta stats

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• Wolves have lost three of their last six league meetings with Crystal Palace (W2 D1), as many as they had in their previous 13 against the Eagles (W7 D3 L3).
• Crystal Palace have won three of their last five away league games against Wolves (L2), though they did lose this exact fixture 0-2 in July last season.
• Currently with 10 points this season courtesy of their three wins and one draw, Crystal Palace are looking to make it 13 points from their first seven games of a Premier League season for the first time ever.
• Wolves have picked up 10 points from their six Premier League games this season - their best total at this stage of the season in the competition and their highest such total in a top-flight campaign since 1979-80 (13 pts, assuming 3/pts for a win).
• Since returning to the Premier League for the 2018-19 season, Wolves have failed to score a first half goal in 58 of their 82 matches, the most of any side in the competition over this period. Indeed, Wolves have failed to score a first half goal in each of their last five Premier League games.
• Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha has netted five goals in six Premier League games this season, one more than he managed in 38 in 2019-20. With five goals and one assist this term, the attacker is just one goal/assist off his total goal involvement tally from last season.
• Wolves striker Raúl Jiménez has played 331 minutes against Crystal Palace without scoring in the Premier League - only versus Leicester City (360) and Manchester United (358) has he registered more minutes without a goal in the competition.

Pitch to Post Preview: Jamie Redknapp on Man Utd v Arsenal; plus Liverpool's CB options, and will Everton bounce back?

Jamie Redknapp joins Peter Smith on this week's show to look ahead to Sunday's showdown between Man Utd and Arsenal and says there are more questions than answers at Old Trafford as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer prepares for his 100th game in charge.

Sky Sports News reporter Vinny O'Connor has the latest on Liverpool's injury problems and discusses the young players who could cover at centre-back.

And Sky Sports statistician Matt Cheetham picks out the numbers which explain why Everton's defeat at Southampton could just be a blip, and makes his bold Pitch for what will happen in the Premier League this weekend.

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