Crystal Palace will host managerless Wolverhampton Wanderers at Selhurst Park this evening and Patrick Vieira’s side must take advantage of the uncertainty plaguing the visitors to steal all three points from the clash.
The Eagles gained a point at the weekend against Leicester City in a 0-0 draw but will need to find some creativity to seal the victory against their opponents who travel to south London on the back of a win.
The Palace boss will be pleased that his team have climbed into a much safer position in the Premier League after picking up four important points from their last two games and are currently 13th in the league table.
A win tonight would put Crystal Palace on 13 points and ever closer to the top half of the table, but more importantly further away from the very tight relegation positions in the bottom three, so finding the best possible way to ensure his team are a huge attacking threat for Wolves should be Vieira’s top priority.
One player who could be the perfect addition to the team is Jean Philippe-Mateta, with the striker having scared Wolves before when he scored the 19th-minute opener in their last Premier League meeting back in March when the Eagles won 2-0.
The £53k-per-week Frenchman who was hailed “fantastic” by Steve Parish has scored nine goals and delivered one assist over his 44 appearances at Selhurst Park. However, he has only been given two starts this season, averaging at just 27 minutes per game and has been given less than 15 minutes per performance over his last three.
However, that could change tonight as Vieira will be keen for his team to be more clinical in front of goal following their stalemate against the Foxes on Saturday and Mateta could be the creative change that Palace needs.
Should Mateta start against Wolves?
Yes
No
Despite his limited game time, Mateta has shown glimpses of what he can offer the Eagles over eight league appearances, scoring one goal, taking 1.3 shots per game and successfully completing 67% of his dribbles so far.
With that being said, the Palace boss will need to find solutions to his team’s inconsistencies and giving Mateta the chance to get stuck in from the start against Wolves could be a tweak that really pays off to put the side in a better position over the season ahead.
