Wolverhampton Wanderers’ wait for a first win of the Premier League season continued as they were pegged back in an entertaining 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace at Molineux to go bottom.
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Trevoh Chalobah put Palace ahead on the hour mark, only for his error to allow Jorgen Strand Larsen in for a 67th-minute equaliser.
Joao Gomes then put Wolves ahead five minutes later, but they were denied a vital win by Palace skipper Marc Guehi.
He was alive to convert at the back post after Daniel Munoz had flicked on a corner. The draw keeps Palace four points clear of Wolves in 17th.
Gary O’Neil’s side go bottom after Southampton recorded their first win of 2024/25 against Everton earlier in the day, ahead of a huge match between the division’s bottom two clubs next week.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 |
Crystal Palace
CRY
|
17 | -8 | 16 |
| 17 |
Leicester
LEI
|
17 | -16 | 14 |
| 18 |
Wolves
WOL
|
17 | -13 | 12 |
| 19 |
Ipswich
IPS
|
17 | -16 | 12 |
| 20 |
Southampton
SOU
|
17 | -25 | 6 |
How the match unfolded
Craig Dawson made a brilliant block to keep out Will Hughes’ shot six minutes in, before Jean-Philippe Mateta had a glorious opportunity to put Palace ahead. He had the goal at his mercy after Chalobah had fluffed his lines, but his close-range volley struck his team-mate.
Dean Henderson then denied Pablo Sarabia twice either side of half-time, diving at the Spaniard’s feet and later taking his shot in the face after good work from Matheus Cunha.
But Palace hit the front on the hour mark when Strand Larsen headed Hughes’ cross away from his goalkeeper Jose Sa, allowing Chalobah to drill into an unguarded net from an angle.
However, after Ismaila Sarr then squandered two golden chances to extend Palace’s lead, Chalobah missed Santiago Bueno’s searching pass, allowing Cunha to advance and square for Strand Larsen to finish.
Wolves completed the turnaround after five further minutes as substitute Goncalo Guedes teed up Gomes to find the bottom-right corner. But there was to be a twist in the tale.
Munoz took advantage of some static set-piece defending to flick a corner through to Guehi, who tapped into an empty net, and things almost got better for Palace in stoppage time, only for Mateta to see a close-range finish chalked off for a foul on Sa.
O’Neil rues defensive errors
The story of Wolves’ season so far has largely been one of defensive errors. In last week’s 2-2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion, they became just the third team in Premier League history to ship 25 goals through their first nine matches of a season.
Following a disappointing start to the season, O’Neil was under pressure to deliver a win at the 10th time of asking, only for more lax defending to cost his team.
Larsen took the ball away from his own goalkeeper to give Chalobah a gaping goal for the opener, then Guehi was granted the freedom of the six-yard box to score Palace’s second.
Only once have Wolves ever gone more games without a win to start a top-flight campaign, failing to win any of their first 14 matches in 1983/84, and they went on to get relegated.
Next week’s clash with Southampton – who got off the mark by beating Everton 1-0 on Saturday – is an important one.
Mixed emotions for Palace
Having been a goal down with just 13 minutes remaining, with Wolves buoyant after turning the game on its head in five second-half minutes, Palace might on one hand be glad to leave Molineux with a point.
However, Oliver Glasner’s men could easily have left the West Midlands with all three.
In the seven minutes that separated Chalobah’s opener and Larsen’s leveller, Sarr spurned two excellent opportunities to double their advantage, firing over from the centre of the box then curling wide after a misplaced pass from Nelson Semedo.
They then thought they had won it in stoppage time, but the VAR confirmed Anthony Taylor’s on-field decision to disallow Mateta’s potential winner, penalising Munoz for a collision with Sa.
While the Eagles have taken four points from their last two games, they might feel frustrated ahead of fixtures against Fulham, Aston Villa and Newcastle United.
What the managers said:
Gary O'Neil: "Disappointed that we didn't come out on top. It was sort of slow and then they scored at a moment where we were the better side. It was a soft goal from a defensive error and we did not really look like conceding in that moment."
Oliver Glasner: "I'm really proud of the team and the players for how they performed today. It was the third game in six days. We should have taken the lead before half-time. We had two great chances after making it 1-0. You could see the players were tired, the squad is very tight at the moment."
Club reports
Wolves report | Crystal Palace report
Next Premier League fixtures
Key facts
Wolves have failed to win any of their opening 10 games of a league season (D3 L7) for only the third time in their history, after 1926/27 (10 games) and 1983/84 (14 matches).
Palace have failed to win any of their last four Premier League matches against sides starting the day in the relegation zone (D3 L1), this despite taking the lead in all four of those games.
After only scoring once in his first six Premier League appearances, Strand Larsen has since scored in three of his last four for Wolves (three goals).
Chalobah scored his fifth Premier League goal (first for Palace), with each of the last four of those putting his side 1-0 ahead.
