Wolverhampton Wanderers took a massive step towards Premier League survival as they secured a narrow victory over Crystal Palace to move nine points clear of the relegation zone.

It was a tight and scrappy win for the Midlands outfit as a calamitous own goal from Joachim Anderson within the opening five minutes and a late Ruben Neves penalty was enough to decide this encounter.

This means that Julen Lopetegui’s men have now taken ten points from the last 15 available and condemned Roy Hodgson to his first defeat since his return to the Eagles.

The south London club largely dominated periods of the second half, as they had 59% possession and 13 shots, but Wolves held firm to secure their third clean sheet in four games.

One player at the heart of the homes side’s sturdy defence and an orchestrator of their attacks was Neves, who produced a vintage display from central midfield.

How did Ruben Neves play against Crystal Palace?

The captain was unable to feature in the club’s last two games at Molineux when Chelsea and Brentford were the visitors. Many expected the Portuguese to be reinstated for Wolves’ Premier League outing at Leicester, but he surprisingly started on the bench as the Wanderers suffered a damaging defeat at their rivals.

Lopetegui didn’t make the same mistake against Palace last night and the midfielder was at his imperious and devastating best. It was the complete performance from the former Porto man, who was simply everywhere.

The skipper protected his defence impeccably as he won eight duels in total – seven of which were on the ground – made two clearances, four interceptions, and four tackles, as per Sofascore, as Wolves secured their sixth victory in eight home games.

The £50k-per-week man also controlled the tempo and dictated the control of the game as he registered 76 touches, two key passes, two accurate crosses, ten accurate long balls, and a 78% pass completion rate, via Sofascore.

This magnificent showing earned the player a monstrous 8.8 rating, the highest of any player on the pitch.

This has been the tale of Wolves’ season as Neves has the biggest average rating of the squad across the whole campaign (7.02), according to WhoScored.

It was another pivotal reminder that the club need to do their absolute utmost to keep the 39-cap international, whose performance was described as “top class” by Statman Dave.

A last-minute penalty rounded off a fantastic Tuesday evening for the Midlands club as Neves sent the Molineux faithful home rocking.