Eagles make it look so Eze
BUT IT’S ALL UPHILL FOR NUNO
ROY HODGSON’S return to Eze street sent opposite number Nuno Espirito Santo spiralling into his worst period as Wolves boss.
Eberechi Eze’s 60th-minute strike ended a miserable run of just one win in 10 league games for Crystal Palace.
It also lit up a contest which had done little to warm the soul on a miserable afternoon in south London.
Eze showed the deftest of touches on the edge of the area before powering a left foot shot past Rui Patricio.
Eagles boss Hodgson said: “He’s a good player and is doing very well. I don’t think he will be a tap-in man.
“The goals he gets will be up there for goals of the month. The important thing is the goals he has got is a very good return for a midfield player.”
While the goal brought joy for Hodgson, it extended Nuno’s pain with no win in eight Premier League games.
The loss of leading scorer
Raul Jimenez has been a massive setback with Wolves picking up just six points since their talismanic hitman suffered a horrific head injury at Arsenal in mid-December.
But Nuno’s side looked a shadow of the one that spent the summer in Germany playing a Europa League quarter-final.
And the shrewd Portuguese boss was scathing of his side’s performance, which he branded as lacking the trademarks of what made the men in Old Gold a topseven team.
Nuno said: “It was not one of the best performances.
“We came with the expectation to try and improve and build on our momentum. We were organised in the first half. Second half not so much as we were chasing the result.
“We lacked creativity and speed in our possession and circulation. We lacked passes to break the lines of Palace.
“There were a lot of things missing. We didn’t recover the ball like we should do.
“We have a lot of concerns – creativity, speed and breaking the lines – we should do better.”
It was not until the final minutes of the first half that Palace got in behind Conor Coady’s well-drilled troops.
Ki-Jana Hoever was caught ballwatching as Patrick van Aanholt ran in behind him.
The left-back’s pull-back fell to Nathaniel Clyne, whose shot was deflected into the
HOUR CLASS Eze’s classy strike on 60 minutes was the difference path of Michy Batshuayi – but the striker hooked the ball over from six yards.
Wolves showed little in goal threat at the other end until new boy Willian Jose came alive on 56 minutes as he latched onto Daniel Podence’s low near-post cross with a sharp swivel volley, which forced Vincente Guaita into the first save of the game.
Clyne hared down the right and the ball was transferred inside from Andre Ayew to Eze, who with the drop of the right shoulder opened up the chance to switch his balance to his left and drill a shot from the edge of the box past Patricio.
Wilfried Zaha should have wrapped the points up for Palace at the end of a devastating break.
After racing the full length of the pitch aided by Batshuayi, the Eagles firestarter cut inside Coady and rattled a left-foot shot against the bar.
Jose had a golden opportunity to level with a free header from a corner but Guaita reacted brilliantly to keep it out.
We lacked creativity and speed in our possession ...we lacked passes to break the lines of Palace... we didn’t do it