Wolverhampton Wanderers showed that they could largely win ugly in Saturday’s tie with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Roy Hodgson’s side had the greater chances on the day and dominated possession, so Nuno Espirito Santo’s side showed us something relatively new – patience and whilst not quite free-flowing football, an ability to be absolutely clinical and tight at the back to more grind out a result.
A tight defence isn’t new though, and nor are goals coming in the second half as we keep plugging away in the Premier League but having been directly involved in three goals in the last four games, wing-back Matt Doherty more than deserves his moment in the spotlight following this match.
Statistics website WhoScored gave his performance a rating of 8.58 immediately post game as he took their star rating by quite a clear margin.
Our top five performances on the day saw Willy Boly (7.60), Jonny Castro (7.16), Ruben Neves (7.12) and Joao Moutinho (7) complete the set.
Another three points, another semi-impressive cameo from Ivan Cavaleiro as he builds back to full fitness following injury and plenty of positives to take, not lest, Raul Jimenez being directly involved in a goal in each of his last four matches as well.
There’s a long way to go, but the Premier League table looks quite pretty today.
