Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers will both endeavour to build on impressive victories in their most recent Premier League battles during Saturday afternoon's clash at Selhurst Park.
The Eagles came away from the Etihad Stadium with all three points on matchday 10, while Wolves prevailed 2-1 against Everton in Monday night's encounter.
Match preview
© Reuters
While a hint of sentimentality crept in for Patrick Vieira at the Etihad following his short-lived time as a Manchester City player, the Frenchman was simply focused on leading Palace to a respectable result at the home of the champions, and he certainly succeeded.
After Wilfried Zaha's tame effort found its way past Ederson into the bottom corner with only six minutes gone, the Eagles held out for the next 82 minutes - during which time Aymeric Laporte was given his marching orders - and Conor Gallagher's 88th-minute effort in front of the away crowd confirmed a memorable win for Palace.
Such a result ended a five-game winless run and a streak of four consecutive draws for Vieira's side, who have now risen to 13th in the table and are one of only four sides in the division to have not lost any of their last five league matches.
One of those other outfits is Wolves, though, but there is much excitement to be had about this Palace side under Vieira, who will surely relish the selection headache about to appear before him when Eberechi Eze finally gets the green light to return to first-team action.
Furthermore, Palace have gone unbeaten in their opening five home games of the season - one of only two sides in the top flight to hold that accolade, along with Liverpool - and Vieira could follow in the footsteps of the revered Ian Holloway should his side avoid defeat at Selhurst Park once again.
© Reuters
Similarly, Wolves are also finding their feet under new leadership in Bruno Lage, who witnessed his side claim their fourth win from five Premier League matches with a hard-fought 2-1 success over Everton on Monday night.
Two quickfire goals from Max Kilman and Raul Jimenez saw Alex Iwobi's second-half strike pale into insignificance as the Wolves resurgence continues, with Lage's side now taking 13 points from the last 15 on offer in the top flight.
Such a hot streak has seen Wolves suddenly surge into European contention in seventh place - just four points adrift of the Champions League spots - and the Molineux outfit have scored nine times in their five-game unbeaten run, with a rejuvenated Jimenez leading the charge.
While Palace have proven a tough nut to crack at Selhurst Park this term, Wolves can boast three wins from their last four away games - with their form on the road better than that of both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur - and a spot in the top five could be theirs depending on results elsewhere this weekend.
Wolves had strung together a three-game winning streak in all competitions with Palace before losing 1-0 at Selhurst Park back in January, but the Eagles have not picked up back-to-back home wins in this fixture since the 1969-70 season.
- L
- D
- D
- D
- D
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Palace starlet Eze played 62 minutes for the Under-23s in a defeat to Blackburn Rovers on Monday night, but he still needs time to build up his fitness and may not be considered for a first-team return just yet.
Nathan Ferguson is also a couple of weeks away from returning to full training, but Vieira did not pick up any fresh concerns at the Etihad and has no need to fix what is not broken this week.
An unchanged XI would see Cheikhou Kouyate and Jordan Ayew hold their places, but Michael Olise must surely come into contention for a start after setting up Gallagher's strike at the Etihad.
As for Wolves, long-term victims Jonny, Pedro Neto and Yerson Mosquera remain on the sidelines, while Marcal is still uncertain as he battles a calf issue.
However, Rayan Ait Nouri will surely be handed another start either way after providing the assist for Kilman's header against Everton, and the visitors did not pick up any fresh concerns on Monday.
Hwang Hee-chan saw what would have been his fifth goal in seven Premier League games ruled out for offside last time out, and the South Korean ought to form part of an unchanged frontline with Jimenez and Francisco Trincao.
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Guaita; Ward, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell; McArthur, Kouyate, Gallagher; Olise, Edouard, Zaha
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Sa; Kilman, Coady, Saiss; Semedo, Neves, Moutinho, Ait-Nouri; Trincao, Jimenez, Hwang
We say: Crystal Palace 2-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
An entertaining affair should be in store at Selhurst Park, with two sides enjoying rich veins of form locking horns and believing that they are equally capable of picking up all three points in the capital.
Vieira and Lage both have bright attacking contingents at their disposal, and given the respective home and away form of the two clubs, we can envisage an end-to-end affair ending with a share of the spoils.
Top tip
Ben Knapton
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Wolverhampton Wanderers win with a probability of 41.88%. A win for Crystal Palace had a probability of 30.57% and a draw had a probability of 27.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Wolverhampton Wanderers win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.08%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.48%) and 0-2 (7.9%). The likeliest Crystal Palace win was 1-0 (9.93%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.97%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 5.3% likelihood.
