In dire need of all three points to keep themselves in the running for a place in Europe, Wolverhampton could not have picked a better opponent to visit Molineux on Monday than an out-of-form Crystal Palace side playing out the string.
Wolves (14-14-8) slipped to seventh in the table on 56 points, two back of surging Tottenham Hotspur as they play this match in hand. They are also two points ahead of both Sheffield United and Burnley and three better than Arsenal as everyone in the top half of the table has some sort of European aspirations heading into the final week of play in this pandemic-elongated season.
Nuno Espirito Santo's side are coming off a 1-1 draw at Burnley that belies their play at Turf Moor. They nearly stole all three points despite not playing at their best, and after one dodged bullet on a missed point-blank header by Chris Wood, a harsh but correct handball on Matt Doherty by VAR resulted in a stoppage-time penalty for the Clarets to nick a point.
Nuno shrugged off the decision but the two dropped points means their route to the Champions League through a top-four finish is all but closed off even with the maximum six points from their final two matches. That leaves the Europa League as the more viable path when it resumes in August.
"Of course, it's disappointing," he told the club's official website. "At the end, they started putting balls in the box, which is always hard to defend, but we should deal with that situation. It's something that we will look at because the final moments of the game require focus and requires us to stay in the game.
"It's always tough, but this is football, this is the game, and we'll go again in a couple of days. We now have time to recover and then prepare well for the next one."
Palace (11-9-16) have already reached safety with 42 points but have been in abject form with six losses in the spin - their longest league losing streak since that nightmarish start to the 2017-18 term in which they dropped their first seven contests and needed Roy Hodgson to perform an impressive escape over that season.
Hodgson is still on the touchline but seeking answers to ignite an offence that has been blanked five times and generated two goals during their swoon. Palace did show some glimmers of promise in Thursday's 2-0 loss at home to Manchester United, putting an equal number of shots on target with the victors (five), but keeper David De Gea kept Palace at bay time and time again.
"I thought we went toe to toe with them," midfielder James McCarthy told Palace's official website. "Obviously they're pushing for Champions League spots and it's just unfortunate a couple of big decisions didn't go our way and it's disappointing for each and every one of us.
"I thought, up until half-time, we matched them. Then the penalty decision goes against us and unfortunately we lose a poor goal. We know within ourselves that just before half-time we should be better and not lose a goal like that and then, second-half, we scored a goal and unfortunately VAR went against us again."
Hodgson will be without Patrick Van Aanholt for the final two matches after the left back suffered a dislocated shoulder in the loss to United, and Jeffrey Schlupp likely will slot into the back four. Christian Benteke is also serving the second of a three-match suspension that rules the striker out for the remainder of the term.
The teams played to a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park in September, with 10-man Wolverhampton nicking a point through Jota's equaliser five minutes into second-half stoppage time. An own goal by Wolves midfielder Leander Dendoncker at the start of the second half provided Palace's lead.
The Eagles, though, are 3-1-1 in their last five trips to Molineux in all competitions.