Crystal Palace may have had the majority of possession but they were often outfought and at times outplayed by Wolves at the Molineux in the Premier League fixture on Friday night.

Wolves started strongly, as teenager Rayan Ait-Nouri opened the scoring mere minutes after Palace striker Michy Batshuayi’s effort was correctly flagged for offside, whilst Nelson Semedo and Leander Dendoncker both narrowly missed from outside the penalty box, before Daniel Podence doubled the home side’s advantage, which means that the winger has now scored twice against the Eagles in the English top flight.

Roy Hodgson’s side will now go back to the drawing board, having suffered an inconsistent start to the season, which has seen them beat Manchester United in a thrilling 3-1 win but lose to both Everton and Chelsea in quick succession. They have drawn one and lost two out of their last three games against Wolves in the Premier League, via Transfermarkt.

Several players were at fault for the below-par performance but Wilfried Zaha was one player who stood out from the rest for all of the wrong reasons.

Just a few weeks since Hodgson insisted that “he has got to offer more” after the 1-1 draw in the A23 derby with Brighton, the Ivory Coast international struggled to make much of an impression.

Per SofaScore, the 27-year-old was given one of the lowest grades out of all of the players on the pitch, as he received a low rating of 6.2 for his poor performance, whilst he lost possession 17 times, only won two out of 11 duels overall, failed to even register a single shot on target and didn’t manage to complete a successful dribble attempt all game.

Sky Sports also gave Zaha a grade of 6/10, whilst 90min were far harsher in their assessment, claiming he “was at the heart of everything positive Palace did, but the problem is that they barely did anything positive”, whilst he “clearly grew frustrated with his lack of impact.”

It’s fair to say that the £45m-rated ace was uncharacteristically lightweight, which is rather baffling given his performances in recent weeks, but he was largely anonymous as well with both Batshuayi and Jeffrey Schlupp winning more one-on-one situations.

Granted, this may only be a minor blip, but the warning signs are there for all to see, and Zaha may be rested for the home game against Leeds United next Saturday. It’s worth remembering that the Ivorian has started every Premier League game so far, whilst he has also played every single minute, via Transfermarkt.

Hodgson has attacking options at his disposal once again, as Jordan Ayew came off the bench to replace Andros Townsend. So, he may decide to make several changes next week.

AND in other news, Steve Parish must convince Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell to sign new contract…