Wolves vs. Crystal Palace Predictions: Low scoring affair expected at Molineux

Wolves welcome Crystal Palace to Molineux on Saturday as the two sides face off in a 3pm kick-off in the Premier League. Our man @AnthonyEadson has provided us with a preview of the game along with his best bets for the action from the Black Country. 

Bruno Lage’s men have lost ground in the race for a top-four finish over the last few weeks enduring back-to-back defeats against Arsenal and West Ham. Wolves will look to get back to winning ways here and their recent record against Palace is a positive one, with the Old Gold coming out victorious in their last three meetings on home soil. 

Wolves are now seven points off Manchester United in fourth, although they have played one game less. A win here looks vital if they are to keep those Champions League dreams alive, and with the potential return to the starting line-up for Raul Jimenez, Daniel Podence and Pedro Neto, the home side will fancy their chances. 

Crystal Palace have won just one game in the Premier League since the turn of the year which came 10 days ago in a 4-1 away win over relegation-threatened Watford. Patrick Viera’s side may have been going through a patchy bit of form late, but they can still go up into 10th with a win here and other results go their way.

Wilfried Zaha will most likely lead the attack for the visitors, which could pave the way for Jeff Schlupp to also start in as part of a front-three after he got on the scoresheet against Burnley last weekend. Jairo Riedewald bagged the winning goal in the FA Cup against Stoke on Tuesday and will be hoping to be rewarded with a start here.

The main selection I’ve opted for on Saturday is a three-pronged punt that is currently best priced via the Bet Builder feature over at BetVictor. The first part comes in the form of under 3.5 cards to be shown in the match and a large reason behind this is that referee Andy Madley will be taking the whistle for the game.

Of the 22 officials to take control of Premier League matches this term, Madley ranks lowest along with Tony Harrington, for yellow cards per game shown, with an average of just 2.00 per game. In the campaign prior to this, Madley averaged 2.56 yellows per game. Both Wolves and Palace have had exactly the same amount of cards this season with 44 yellows and 1 red each. This ranks them 12th and 13th in the division when it comes to teams with the worst disciplinary record and with this in mind I see a low card-count in this match.

The next part of this 23/20 Bet Builder is for there to be under 3.5 goals in the match. The home side may be eight in the table but only two sides have scored fewer goals than them this season in Burnley (22) and Norwich (15). Looking back at recent meetings and all of the past eight between these two teams have featured under 2.5 goals and with Palace failing to score on their last three trips to Molineux, this looks set to be a low scoring affair.

Rounding off this two point selection is Wolves to have over 2.5 corners in the match. The hosts average 4.57 corners per game on home turf this season and with some pace potentially being injected back into the attack with Podence and Neto I think this line should clear comfortably after landing in 9 of their 12 home games this season.

Another selection I’ve taken a lean towards is Pedro Neto to have 2+ shots on target should he start the match (Cash out available pre-match with Paddy Power). After a 10 month absence due to injury, Pedro Neto has returned to the Wolves squad recently making an appearance off the bench in their last three matches.

The Portuguese attacker looked sharp when coming on in his most recent came against West Ham and I think now is the time that we’ll see him return to the starting XI. Last season Neto put in some really impressive performances for Wolves stepping up after the departure of Diogo Jota to Liverpool.

In total, the 21-year-old made 15 appearances at home in the 2020/2021 season and managed to register 2+ shots on target in five of those, hitting the line against Chelsea, Arsenal, Fulham, Southampton and Leeds. I do feel that the likely chance of Neto being substituted in the second-half is high here, and is factored into the 5/1 on show from Paddy Power. However, thinking back to last season and the prices he was going off in the shots markets, I feel this looks like a value play.

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