Crystal Palace vs Wolves Odds
| Crystal Palace Odds | -110 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers Odds | +333 |
| Draw | +230 |
| Over / Under | 2.5 +110 / -138 |
Crystal Palace are set to face off with Wolves in a mid-table clash at Selhurst Park on Sunday morning.
Palace won their opening match of the season against Sheffield United, but then proceeded to lose to Arsenal and then secured a 1-1 draw with Brentford last weekend. The Eagles are going to be a middle to bottom half of the table side this season, but they have the potential to get up to 9th or 10th place. If they are going to achieve that they have to get three points in matches like this against inferior sides at home.
Wolves got their first win of the season last Saturday on a late goal against Everton, which could be a huge three points in the battle for survival. There has been a lot of transition happening at Wolves this summer with a lot of players like Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Matheus Nunes and Nathanial Collins leaving the club. Wolves haven't done really anything to replace them, so they are likely going to be in the relegation battle for most of the season.
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace are playing a different style under Roy Hodgson than we are used to seeing. Throughout his entire career, Hodgson has played a 4-4-2 low block and his teams have played extremely direct. However, he is now lining up his Palace team in a 4-2-3-1 and is having them press opponents high trying to disrupt their build up play.
It's a small sample size, but through three matches Crystal Palace have the fourth-lowest opponent build up completion percentage allowed and have the eighth-best PPDA mark in the Premier League.
Eager for 2023/24 data on https://t.co/dUh5MC3R20? Holding it off till September for a bit more robust sample size. Here is a sneak peek. Premier League 23/24 rankings on disrupting opponent buildup. Stay tuned pic.twitter.com/DOpK3KzBUO
— markstats (@markrstats) August 28, 2023
Crystal Palace were a very good defensive team last season against lesser competition. Against the bottom eight offenses in the Premier League, Palace only allowed only 0.94 xG per match. They've continued that into this season, allowing a combined 1.5 to Sheffield United and Brentford. Their back four of Ward, Guehi, Anderson and Mitchell have been together now for two years and Cheick Doucoure has emerged as a star in the defensive midfield position.
The Crystal Palace offense was been the biggest question mark coming into the season. They didn't get much production from their forwards last year with Wilfred Zaha being their most productive attacker, having a 0.27 xG per 90 minute scoring rate. So far they have created 3.9 xG in their first three matches, so there have been some improvements.
Wolves
Wolves are one of the most puzzling teams to handicap so far this season. They had an unreal performance in a loss to Manchester United, got dismantled by Brighton at home and then got a late winner over Everton last weekend after Jose Sa had the game of his life.
No way, Jose 😲@josesaoficial | @AWNetworkspic.twitter.com/SGYIcLMbA0
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 27, 2023
The switch from Julien Lopategui to Gary O'Neill is going to be a good thing for Wolves in the long run. Last season Wolves kept trying to maintain defensive possession and pass their way through opponents, but O'Neill sets his his team up usually in some type of low block and wants to play in transition.
With all of the changes in the summer, Wolves are now barren in the midfield and defense. They're so thin in defense that they have to play a 33-year-old Craig Dawson at center back who is far past his prime. Since their entire midfield from last season is gone, it's very difficult to see how Wolves are going to stay competitive over a full season.
Crystal Palace vs Wolves
Pick & Prediction
Wolves have been so bad defensively, especially in transition defense. They have been one of the worst teams in the Premier League so far at trying to build out of the back, as they keep turning the ball over again and again. Manchester United, Everton and Brighton all forced double-digit high turnovers against them, so if Palace press high they are likely going to cause a lot of havoc.
The best version of the Crystal Palace offense is when they are playing in transition. Eze is a fantastic ball carrier along with Edourd and company, so they should have quite a few chances if they can turn Wolves over high.
I like the value on Crystal Palace -105.
