Wolverhampton beats Crystal Palace to retake 6th in EPL

Posted July 20, 2020 7:00 am

The Associated Press

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Adama Traore, left, leaps in the air as he attempts to control the ball as Crystal Palace's Andros Townsend right, watches during the English Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Crystal Palace at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England, Monday, July 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Martin Rickett,Pool) The Associated Press

WOLVERHAMPTON, England (AP) - Wolverhampton took back sixth place in the English Premier League after beating slumping Crystal Palace 2-0 on Monday, moving closer to qualifying for another season in the Europa League.

The win moved Wolves back above Tottenham with a one-point advantage ahead of the final day of the league season on Sunday. Wolves must face Chelsea; Tottenham gets Palace, which has lost its last seven games.

Daniel Podence, a winter signing from Olympiakos, scored his first Premier League goal in the 41st minute with a header into an unguarded net off a cross from Matt Doherty, who was in turn cued up by a smart lob from Joao Moutinho. Jonathan Castro showed off his footwork to score the second goal on the turn in the 68th.

'œWe wanted to be in Europe again and now we probably need to win at Chelsea to make sure we are again,'ť Doherty told broadcaster BT Sport. 'œI thought we probably started off a bit slow, bit flat in the first half, struggled to get going, but once we scored we got a bit more confident."

Palace showed little sign of breaking its losing run, the club's worst under manager Roy Hodgson. Jeff Schlupp sent a low shot narrowly wide in the first half on his first Premier League start of 2020 following injury problems. Palace lost defender Mamadou Sakho to a leg injury after 23 minutes.

Wolves' European push was helped earlier in the evening when eighth-placed Sheffield United was beaten by Everton 1-0. That result, combined with the win for Wolves, meant Sheffield is no longer in with a chance of reaching the Europa League.

Wolves is still in this season's Europa League, which was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. It faces Podence's old club, Olympiakos, in the second leg of their last-16 fixture on Aug. 6. The first leg went 1-1.

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Wolverhampton Wanderers' Daniel Podence, centre, heads the ball into the net to score his team's first goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Crystal Palace at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England, Monday, July 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Cath Ivill,Pool) The Associated Press

Crystal Palace's Andros Townsend reacts as he leaves the field after the English Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Crystal Palace at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England, Monday, July 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Cath Ivill,Pool) The Associated Press

Crystal Palace's Mamadou Sakho receives treatment during the English Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Crystal Palace at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England, Monday, July 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Martin Rickett,Pool) The Associated Press

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