(Football news) The Molineux Stadium welcomed Everton who have been in poor form, having lost to West Ham and Watford in the last two Premier League matches. For Wolves, manager Bruno Lage made two changes as Reuben Neves replaced Leander Dendoncker in the middle of the park while Francisco Trincao was back into the starting XI at the expense of Adama Traore who found himself on the bench. For Everton, Mason Holgate was in the starting XI due to Lucas Digne’s injury while Jean-Philippe Gbamin was picked over Tom Davies, Alex Iwobi replaced Anthony Gordon and Richarlison came in for Salomon Rondon up front.
Wolves started strongly at the Molineux Stadium, as Jordan Pickford stopped a volley from Reuben Neves and Conor Coady failed to capitalize on the rebound. Pickford came to the rescue again when he saved a curling effort from Francisco Trincao at the first quarter of an hour with the home side looking for a breakthrough against Rafa Benitez’s team.
Wolves did find the back of the net when Jiminez found Hwang Hee-chan who found his target in the second attempt, only to be ruled offside by the VAR. However, Max Kilman did eventually score the opening goal in the 28th minute with a header. To make matters worse, an under-hit back pass by Godfrey ensured Jiminez was clean through on goal and the Mexican lifted the ball over Pickford to double Wolves’ lead and score his 50th goal for his team.
Everton looked largely toothless in the first half and failed to keep possession, their only real chance coming from a counter attack when Romain Saiss's deflection found the feet of Demarai Gray but the winger failed to hit the target. The second half was notably better for Rafa Benitez’s team as they committed more players forward and had a real chance when Wolves keeper Jose Sa kicked the ball at Richarlison but the 24 year old Brazilian was quickly closed down by Sa and Coady. Alex Iwobi found the back of the net for Everton in the 66th minute to reduce Wolves’ lead by one goal.
Wolves should have restored their two goal cushion when Trincao failed to hit the target from point blank range and appeared to have won a penalty later only for referee Martin Atkinson to award a foul outside the box. Everton’s Anthony Gordon almost found an equalizer with a header from Andros Townsend’s corner being saved by Sa. Audible jeers could be heard from the away end of the Molineux Stadium at full time as Everton slumped to their third consecutive defeat while Wolves got back to winning ways after draws against Leeds United and Aston Villa.
