Everton Claim Deserved Three Points Away At Wolves

Everton claimed back-to-back Premier League victories with a hard-earned but fully deserved 3-2 win away at Wolves.

At a rainswept Molineux, three moments of excellent attacking football – finished by Beto, Iliman Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s first goal for the club – were enough to claim the three points.

The scenes that accompanied Everton’s victory at full-time spoke volumes with the travelling Toffees in full voice and singing Spirit of the Blues long after the final whistle had sounded, while Jack Grealish, with two assists in the game, giving his shirt away and grinning as he found himself in a bear hug.

Manager David Moyes made two changes to the side that beat Brighton 2-0 in the Premier League the previous weekend, with Tim Iroegbunam dropping to the bench as Vitalii Mykolenko started at left-back, allowing James Garner to move back into midfield alongside Idrissa Gana Gueye, while Thierno Barry made way for Beto to lead the Blues’ front line.

Though the first shot on target went to the hosts, with Jordan Pickford equal to a low Jhon Arias drive from 25 yards, the majority of the early play was Everton’s with Grealish in particular an early threat, the on-loan winger utterly unaffected by the jeers that greeted his every touch of the ball on his return to the West Midlands.

Grealish got the assist, his third in three games for the Blues, for the opener with a perfectly-weighted header from the corner of the six-yard box that looped across the goalkeeper and to Beto, who duly powered the ball home from close range.

The Blues’ number nine was off the mark in the league after just seven minutes and marked it by sprinting over to the lower Steve Bull Stand where not even a lengthy VAR check for offside could quieten the travelling Toffees.

Everton were comfortable for the next 10 minutes and even though the hosts were seeing more of the ball, they were yet to seriously test Pickford or stretch the Toffees’ backline.

In fact it was Beto who got closest to goal after his opener, the Portuguese striker taking down a neat through pass well in his stride but having the ball nicked away from him by a superb recovery challenge from Santiago Bueno.

One quick counter-attack then changed the narrative, and the feeling within Molineux, entirely. Marshall Munetsi was released down the right and beat Mykolenko to the ball before squaring an inch-perfect ball to the awaiting Hwang, who got to the ball before the onrushing Pickford and side-footed it past him for parity.

With the Molineux crowd lifted, the home side responded with a series of robust challenges that were met with encouragement from Wolves head coach Vitor Pereira as he tried to turn the momentum in his side’s favour.

It very nearly paid off in the 28th minute as Emmanuel Agbadou, facing away from goal as a cross came in, acrobatically turned the ball over his own head and found the roof of the net.

Five minutes later however and Everton had retaken the lead in some style. Dewsbury-Hall, a constant threat in the first half, played a delicious one-two with Grealish that saw the latter in on goal, albeit quite far over to the left, and his attempted slotted finish was saved well by the feet of Jose Sa.

Wolves were unable to clear the ball properly, however, and some excellent pressure on the flank from Michael Keane led to a turnover. The ball was quickly back with Dewsbury-Hall 25 yards out, who played a neat pass to Grealish in the box.

Grealish was under pressure but his quick feet and quicker mind created an opening, and he played a delicious reverse pass into the path of Dewsbury-Hall, who had continued into the box with a fine run. His square ball across the face of goal was behind Beto but just close enough to Ndiaye for the Senegalese to scoop the ball into the net at the back post.

Ndiaye thought he had extended the lead within a minute of the second half getting under way, only for the assistant referee’s flag to rule out his effort past Sa from close range after Gana’s shot was diverted into his path by a Wolves defender.

Joao Gomes flashed a shot wide of Pickford’s far post in the 50th minute as the hosts sought level terms but Moyes’ side were resolute in defence. Both sides also saw penalty appeals for handball turned down – Everton with Gana’’s earlier blocked opportunity and Wolves when a low cross hit the back of Garner as he slid in to block.

Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall remained a potent threat and when the pair combined again 10 minutes into the second half it led to a deserved third, a first goal in Everton Blue for Dewsbury-Hall and a fourth assist in three games for Grealish.

As he did throughout the game, Gana won possession strongly in the middle of the park before playing a neat ball forward to Grealish, who took it on the turn and set off towards goal. With space closing as he approached the box, Grealish knocked an accurate ball between two defenders into the path of Dewsbury-Hall who produced a stunning finish from just inside the box, smashing in at the near post off the crossbar.

As the home fans grew increasingly frustrated the Blues looked to press on and extend the two-goal lead, Mykolenko sending a teasing cross from the left that narrowly missed Ndiaye at the back post.

O’Brien headed a Dewsbury-Hall free kick narrowly wide of the far post as time ticked down and the Blues were in full control until a sudden turnover with just over 10 minutes to play led to two substitutes combining, with David Moller Wolfe’s cross turned home by Rodrigo Gomes, who nipped in ahead of Mykolenko at the back post.

The home side suddenly found their rhythm and produced a wave of attacks in search of an equaliser that had looked unlikely for the entire second half up to that point. But the Blues were able to stifle that Wolves momentum by winning a series of free kicks that allowed them to retain possession and calm the game down.

Wolves did muster one last attack that very nearly secured an equaliser – Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s awkward shot from distance was parried by Pickford and the first man to the rebound was Gomes, who should have done better than put his effort wide.

But the Blues fully merited the three points and head into the international break with six points from the opening three Premier League games.