LONDON, Oct 19: Wilfried Zaha completed Crystal Palace’s recovery by scoring his fifth goal of the season to seal a 2-1 win over Wolverhampton in the Premier League on Wednesday.
Trailing after a rare goal from Adama Traore in the 31st minute, Palace equalized barely a minute into the second half through Eberechi Eze’s header before Zaha slotted home the winner in the 70th.
It was a second straight home win for Palace — after beating Leeds 2-1 — to lift the team into 10th place, as manager-less Wolves stayed just a point and a place above the relegation zone.
After Palace came close to scoring in the fourth minute when Cheick Doucoure’s long-range shot hit the post, Wolves took the lead after Hugo Bueno — on his full debut — delivered a fine cross to an unmarked Traore. The winger nodded into the bottom right corner for only his second league goal since May 2021.
A delay ensued after Joel Ward and Daniel Podence collided in the air and the Wolves winger was attended to by medical staff. He was deemed fit to carry on, with the incident earning the Palace captain a booking in the process.
Zaha had a chance to level for the frustrated hosts before the break but skied his effort, and Palace had a small reprieve when Ruben Neves’ free kick in stoppage time bounced off the right post.
Forest off bottom of EPL
Earlier, Nottingham Forest collected a hard-fought point from a 0-0 draw at Brighton to climb off the bottom of the league.
Brighton dominated the game at the Amex Stadium but again lacked a cutting edge, coming closest when Leandro Trossard struck a powerful shot against the crossbar in the first half.
That’s now four games without a win for Brighton since Roberto De Zerbi took charge of the team as the replacement for Graham Potter at the end of September. It hasn’t scored in the last three games.
Forest, meanwhile, claimed just a second point away from home this season and climbed above Leicester into second-to-last place on six points.
Since suffering a 4-0 loss at Leicester in early October that left his job seemingly at risk, Forest manager Steve Cooper has set up his team to make it harder to beat in recent games and it is paying off.
The visitors barely created a clear-cut chance at the other end, though, and relied on goalkeeper Dean Henderson to eke out a point.
The former Manchester United keeper’s best saves were off Solly March’s low shot in the first half and then Pascal Gross’ mishit effort midway through the second half.
Arsenal are currently at the top of the table. (AP)
