Wolves manager Gary O'Neil has attempted to take the pressure off the players ahead of their weekend match against fellow strugglers Crystal Palace. (More Football News)
O'Neil's side are ♚currently 19th in the Premier League with just two points from their opening nine matches, with Palace four points above🎐 them in 17th.
“I know there will🌞 be a lot made of the next games, but they’re not must wins,” O’Neil told a pre-match press conference.
“Crystal Palace are good. Th💯ey spent £30million on a strike🌳r from Arsenal and Eze is pretty good! We need to be ready in every game and we want to win.
“Southampton 😼will also be tough, they 🧸keep the ball forever and have a real set way of playing.
Wolves fought back from two goals down to claim a point in a 2-2 draw against Brighton last weekenꦇd, having only scored their first after 88 minutes. Their manager was clear on that never-say-die attitude always being present at the cluཧb.
🥃“There will be challenges in every game because that’s the level of the Premier Lea🔯gue, but we’ll keep going," he said.
“The lads will never stop. We’ll stꦑand up, we’ll keep going 🦄and we’ll be fine.
“The one thi𒀰ng I guarantee we won🌱’t come up short on is fight, passion, togetherness and effort.
“If we come up short on quality sometimes, we work hard to make sure that doesn’t happen, b🅘ut we definitely won’t come up s🍌hort on anything else.”
Opposite number Oliver Glasner, meanwhile, has fitness worries over some key players going into this match after both Eberechi Eze 🌳and Adam Wharton came off i🐟njured against Aston Villa in the EFL Cup in midweek.
While he was positive that Wharton's injury was just𒁃 the recurrence of an existing issue, he was less sure about Eze.
“I hope that it’s not too serious but I don’t know. It’s not the best information that I got today that Ebs hꦕad to leave the pitch," he🦩 said.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Wolves - Matheus Cunha
Cunha got Wolves'ꦆ equaliser against Brighton deep ♔into stoppage time last weekend, bringing him to four for the season so far.
He has scored in 15 Premier League matches for Wolves, but curiously has only ended on the winning side in three of the♛m (D3 L9).
Crystal Palace - Jean-Philippe Mateta
Mateta is Crystal Palace's top scorer this se🀅ason, having scored three league goals and laid on one assist. In all competitions, meanwhile, he has five goals.
The Frenchman has scored 16 goals in his last 20🔥 Premier League starts for Crystal Palace. Mateꦑta’s 17 Premier League goals in 2024 are the most by a Palace player in a calendar year.
MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW
Both of these teams have made a poor start to the Premier League season, with Wolves second-bottom of the table and Crystal Palace in 17th after nine 🥂matches.
The hosts are one of three t🥂eams in the division that are yet to have won a league games this season (D2 L7), though did end a six-match losing run with a 2-2 draw away to Brighton last week.
Wolves are the only♊ team who have n🀅ot picked up a single point at home this season, while their Molineux losing streak goes back five matches to their previous meeting with Crystal Palace (11 May 2024).
Crystal Palace are yet to win on the road in the league (D1 L3), with their last away win inꩲcidentally being their 3-1 reversal of Wolves at Molineux.
Oliver Glasner's side did pick up their first win ♍of the season (D3 L5) last weekend, beating Tottenham 1-0 at home to put them on six points after nine matches.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Wolves - 38.6%
Draw - 27%
Crystal Palace - 34.4%
