It took a late Evann Guessand strike for Crystal Palace to beat 10-man Wolverhampton Wanderers and alleviate some of the huge pressure on Oliver Glasner. Fans made their feelings clear with a banner in response to Glasner’s ‘stay humble’ comments ahead of Sunday’s game.
The noise around Selhurst Park as of late has not been positive. There have been loud calls from fans for Glasner to leave amid a dismal run of form.
Palace headed into today’s game with just one win from 15 games. Anything but a victory over Rob Edwards’ side was inconceivable.
Crystal Palace somewhat bounce back
Wolves should have been in front when Adam Wharton gave away a penalty in the first half. Dean Henderson came to the rescue, pulling off a superb save to deny Nigerian forward Tolu Arokodare.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men when Ladislav Krejci was sent off for two bookable offences. The Czech defender was harshly handed his marching orders for booting the ball away on the hour mark.
Palace couldn’t find a way past Wolves’ defence until the 90th minute. Guessand, who came on in the second half, came to the fore with a vital winner to take the Eagles up to 35 points.
No club has ever been relegated with this amount of points, and the focus should now be on winning the Europa Conference League. If Glasner’s men are to triumph in Europe, they will need to show vast improvement.
Henderson and Guessand on the win
Henderson was hailed by fans for an “immense” performance between the sticks. The English goalkeeper has taken the captain’s armband following Marc Guehi’s move to Manchester City last month.
The 28-year-old spoke to Sky Sports after the game about the importance of a win against Wolves. He acknowledged the speculation over his manager:
“Huge with all the noise around us at the moment. It was nervy but it was a huge three points.”
Henderson has become a spot-kick specialist, having provided a vital save to deny Omar Marmoush in the FA Cup win last season. He spoke about his latest heroics from 12 yards:
“It was a big moment before half-time but that’s my job and that’s what I’m there to do. It’s about momentum and confidence, we needed an injection of that and got it today.”
He added:
“100 per cent. It’s a big week for us. If we can get the win on Thursday (Conference League).”
Guessand was just as important for Palace in their win over Wolves. The Ivorian joined the club on loan from Aston Villa last month, and he scored his first goal in Eagles colours.
The 24-year-old touched on his goal:
“Yeah, really happy for this goal and it’s really important for the race. We fight today. Let’s go to the next game.”
The next game sees Palace host Bosnian minnows Zrinjski Mostar in the second-leg of their Conference League play-off. A 1-1 draw last Thursday means Glasner’s men need to get the job done at Selhurst Park this Thursday.
