Wolverhampton Wanderers helped kick off the FA Cup's third round action on Friday night by beating Crystal Palace 1-0 at Molineux. 

In truth though, the scoreline could well have been greater as Nuno Santo's side made 13 chances to the visitors' five, only for some poor finishing from Leander Dendoncker and Fabio Silva to prevent them from building up a healthier lead. 

Adama Traore broke the deadlock in the 35th minute with his first goal of the season, however, and as Palace failed to land a single shot on target, that strike proved to be enough to secure Wolves' place in the next round of the competition. 

But the Spain international's overall influence on the game was bettered by two of his team-mates, according to The Athletic's Tim Spiers - a journalist well-known to Wolves fans. 

In The Athletic's match discussion thread for Friday's game, Spiers instead named Ruben Neves and Nelson Semedo as the two "standouts" amongst Nuno's side. 

GIVEMESPORT's Christy Malyan says...

In regards to Neves, the statistics certainly back up Spiers' claim. The Portugal midfielder provided the assist for Traore's goal, made the most tackles of any player on the pitch (six), also ranked first for passes and had a whopping 104 touches of the ball. 

It was a commanding midfield performance that ultimately gave Wolves the platform to control the game from. 

Semedo's statistical returns are a little less encouraging, however, with no tackles or key passes to his name.

So you could certainly question whether he had a better evening than Traore, who scored the winner and created a delicious chance for Dendoncker after poking the ball past Patrick van Aanholt. 

Nonetheless, Nuno will be more pleased with the team's overall performance after a run of four games without a win, including a 3-3 draw with Brighton during their previous outing. 

Everton are next up for Wolves in the Premier League and the Molineux gaffer will be hoping they can now carry some momentum into Tuesday's clash.