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Wolves joint top after EPL victory over Crystal Palace

Wolves' Daniel Podence celebrates after scoring his team's second goal.

Wolves' Daniel Podence celebrates after scoring his team's second goal. Photo: Getty

Wolverhampton Wanderers catapulted themselves to joint-top of the Premier League table on Friday with a commanding 2-0 home victory against 10-man Crystal Palace.

On his Wolves debut since arriving on loan from Angers, teenage Frenchman Rayan Ait-Nouri scored in the 18th minute shortly after Palace striker Michy Batshuayi had a goal disallowed for offside.

Daniel Podence made it 2-0 inside a fast-paced 27 minutes and Palace were unfortunate at the other end when a penalty was taken away by the video assistant referee (VAR) for offside in a Wolves-dominated first half.

Palace could not find a response in the second half as the Eagles resigned to defeat and with five minutes left, they were a man down.

After another VAR check, it was decided Luka Milivojevic should be sent off for serious foul play when he lunged in on Wolves midfielder Joao Moutinho.

Victory for the hosts continues their best ever start to a season since 1979 as they pull level with leading Merseyside clubs Everton and champions Liverpool on 13 points, while Palace sit three points behind in ninth.

Wolves captain Conor Coady told BT Sport: “It’s massive for us. Huge. It’s good to play on a Friday and get a win.

“We never put targets on where we want to go because you create unwanted pressure. We’ve got a long week now, we’ll enjoy the rest.”

Praising his goalscoring French wing-back, Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo told BT Sport: “Rayan Ait Nouri played good.

“I was smiling because football is like this: it’s your first game and you score.

“To have goals all over the team is important. It’s what you need.”

Palace boss Roy Hodgson told BBC Sport he was aggrieved by the decision to send off Milivojevic for what he felt was a well-intentioned challenge.

“My view is it’s not a sending-off and I’ve told (referee) Martin Atkinson that,” he said.

“He thinks there was a reason to give a red card but I’ve seen it as well and I certainly don’t agree with that. It was a fair challenge and there was no intent to contact Joao Moutinho at all.

“I’m very disappointed with that one. It’s the worst part of the evening in a way.”

-AAP

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