LONDON (Reuters) -French forward Odsonne Edouard struck twice and Eberechi Eze netted from a fine solo effort in an action-packed second half to power Crystal Palace to a 3-2 home victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Sunday.
The win provisionally lifted Palace to seventh in the table on seven points from four games, while Wolves remained in 15th place on three points heading into the international break.
“You can see how good he is. You can see he can finish and he’s got goals in him,” Eze said of Edouard, who scored just five goals in 35 league appearances last season.
“We’re not worried about goals – we know we can create chances. It’s just about putting it in every single game and putting in the work. We know we’re working on it, so we’re not worried.”
Palace’s Jordan Ayew had the best opportunity of a drab first half, after Jefferson Lerma pinched the ball off Craig Dawson and played him through on goal, but the Ghanaian forward’s effort was blocked on the line by Maximilian Kilman.
Palace scored the opener in the 56th minute as Tyrick Mitchell raced down the left and played a perfectly-weighted pass across the face of the goal for Edouard to poke home.
Wolves levelled through substitute Hwang Hee-chan’s well-directed header from a set piece in the 65th minute.
The goal jolted Palace awake and they upped their intensity, which was boosted by Roy Hodgson’s decision to bring Jean-Philippe Mateta off the bench in place of Jeffrey Schlupp.
Frenchman Mateta proved a handful after coming on as Palace tested Wolves keeper Jose Sa three times in five minutes, with Lerma, Ayew and Eze forcing him into saves.
Palace found the breakthrough in the 78th when Eze showed great individual skill to control a Mateta pass with a backheel flick before stabbing his shot past Sa.
“I’m always confident and always believe in myself. Of course, it’s always nice to score and it gives you a boost, so I hope it continues,” Eze said.
“I think it’s a good start (to the season). There’s always improvements and things we want to work on, but we’ll take it and build on it going forward.”
The hosts put the contest beyond doubt when Edouard played a one-two with Mateta to breeze through Wolves’ tired defence and tuck away a cool finish, before Matheus Cunha scored a consolation goal for the visitors six minutes into added time.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
