Preview: Crystal Palace vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers - prediction, team news, lineups

Crystal Palace play host to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon with both clubs coming off the back of a heavy defeat last weekend.

While Palace lost out by a 4-0 scoreline at Tottenham Hotspur, Wolves succumbed tamely to Chelsea at Molineux, with the Blues running out 5-2 victors.

Match preview

Palace had arguably been the Premier League's surprise team during the opening weeks of the season having recorded seven points from four matches, which included wins over Manchester United and Aston Villa.

However, Roy Hodgson will be aware that he has a job to do to ensure that the mauling from Spurs was a one-off, especially ahead of important home fixtures with Wolves and Norwich City.

A tougher period which includes six games in succession against teams who finished in the top half of the standings last season follows, leaving Palace in a position where they must take advantage of facing an out-of-form Wolves.

Goals have proven to be a problem - just three have come from six matches in all competitions - and Hodgson will be demanding that Wilfried Zaha adds his first goal or assist of the season since the intense speculation regarding his future over the summer.

While Palace sit in 12th position with seven points, Wolves are in 19th with just the three, which were achieved through three successive draws at the beginning of the campaign.

However, Nuno Espirito Santo's team have since shipped eight goals against Everton and Chelsea, while also losing to Braga in their first Europa League group fixture on Thursday night.

Despite Nuno refusing to be overly critical of his players, he will be aware that Wolves are already at a stage of their season where they need to get positive results on the board or be left with a campaign where they are simply looking to consolidate.

That is something which will not fit in with the objectives of owners Fosun International, who are allegedly already prepared to spend big in January.

Nevertheless, Wolves will lose some of their current pulling power unless they overcome their recent slump, and it is imperative that they record points from games against Palace and Watford next week.

Crystal Palace form: DLWDWL

Wolverhampton Wanderers form: WDWLLL

Team News

Nuno will hand a recall to Diogo Jota for the game at Selhurst Park, with the attacker likely to replace Patrick Cutrone.

Romain Saiss and Joao Moutinho, who were also left on the bench on Thursday night, may come into the team for Ruben Neves and Morgan Gibbs-White respectively.

Given Palace's threat down the flanks, Nuno may opt against starting attack-minded Adama Traore at wing-back, although Jonny Otto could potentially switch to right-back to accommodate Ruben Vinagre on the opposite side.

Despite his costly mistake in the Europa League, Ryan Bennett is expected to stay in the starting lineup ahead of Jesus Vallejo.

Hodgson may hand a start to Victor Camarasa, who could potentially come into the middle to replace Jeffrey Schlupp.

A decision must also be made regarding Mamadou Sakho after the centre-back struggled on his return to injury last weekend, with James Tomkins in line to be handed a recall.

Crystal Palace possible starting lineup: Guaita; Ward, Sakho, Cahill, Van Aanholt; Zaha, Kouyate, Milivojevic, Camarasa, Townsend; Ayew

Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup: Patricio; Bennett, Coady, Boly; Jonny, Dendoncker, Moutinho, Saiss, Vinagre; Jota, Jimenez

We say: Crystal Palace 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

While both clubs would have lost some confidence after their recent results, we feel that Palace being at home, as well as Wolves' quick turnaround after Europa League action, will lead to the Eagles edging this game in the closing stages.