Soccer
Oliver Glasner would forgive his Crystal Palace players for being distracted following their FA Cup victory, but he believes they will not find motivation an issue versus Wolves on Tuesday.
Palace lifted the first major trophy in their 120-year history on Saturday, as Eberechi Eze’s goal handed them a historic 1-0 FA Cup final win over Manchester City.
The Eagles became the first English club to win their first major title since Wigan Athletic in the 2012-13 FA Cup, who also beat Man City in the final that year.
Palace are nestled safely in 12th place in the Premier League and are unlikely to climb any higher – or drop any lower – before the season concludes on Sunday.
Asked about team news for Tuesday’s game, Glasner confirmed Marc Guehi and Adam Wharton will miss out, then added: “I don’t know, at the moment, to be honest! We cancelled Sunday’s training and we’ll train now after the press conference.
“We’re looking forward to meeting all the players again, but of course I don’t know how they will present today. It’s now about finding the right motivation.
“We have to think how we want to enter this week, and especially how we want to end this week, with two games to play.”
1 – This win qualifies Crystal Palace for next season’s UEFA Europa League – it will be their first ever appearance in major European competition. Adventure. pic.twitter.com/d6iZXWyVTK
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 17, 2025
Wolves are two places below Palace and looking to get back to winning ways following defeats to Man City and Brighton, which followed a six-game winning streak.
Vitor Pereira expects his team to face a highly motivated opponent, telling reporters: “I believe that the motivation of the supporters and the team will be at a high level.”
Pereira is one of five nominees for the Premier League’s Manager of the Season award after leading Wolves away from a relegation battle with ease, and he has feels that honour belongs to everyone at the club.
“I’m a bit surprised because I came into the league in the middle of the season, but proud of my players, my staff, the club and the supporters because this is teamwork,” he said.
“It’s not just me who has achieved this. It is something special, for sure, and I am very proud.”
Frank
Howe
Nuno
Pereira
SlotVoting is now open for your @BarclaysFooty Manager of the Season!
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 15, 2025
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Crystal Palace – Daniel Munoz
Munoz has been directly involved in nine goals for Palace in the Premier League this season (four goals, five assists), assisting their opener against Tottenham on their last outing in the competition, while he also teed up Eze’s winner in the FA Cup final.
No Eagles defender has ever reached double figures for goal involvements in a single campaign in the Premier League.
Wolves – Jorgen Strand Larsen
Strand Larsen has made more targeted off-the-ball runs into the box than any other player in the Premier League this season (109).
The Norwegian has 13 goals in the Premier League this season – the third-best tally by a Wolves player in a single campaign in the competition after Raul Jimenez in 2019-20 (17) and Matheus Cunha this term (15).
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
Palace’s minds may be elsewhere following their historic Wembley win, but they still have landmarks to play for.
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) May 18, 2025
The Eagles are on 49 points in the Premier League this season, and by avoiding defeat in this match they will reach 50 in a top-flight season for the first time since 1991-92 (57).
Indeed, a victory would take them to 52 points, which would be the most ever by a Premier League side who failed to win any of their first eight games in that campaign.
Wolves have lost their last four Premier League away games against Palace, as many as they had in their previous 18 league visits prior (D7 L7).
However, Vitor Pereira’s side have had 10 days to prepare for this game and will be confident of taking advantage of any rustiness in the Palace ranks.
Palace have only lost their final home league game in one of the last 12 seasons (W8 D3), going down 3-1 against Arsenal in 2020-21, so a draw could be on the cards.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Crystal Palace – 38.2%
Wolves – 34.7%
Draw – 27.1%
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