A rip-roaring first-half from Wolves, and goals of individual significance to Maximilian Kilman and Raul Jimenez, did the damage under the lights against Everton.
Kilman’s header, planted firmly past Jordan Pickford, was his first in Wolves colours and gave his team the advantage. Four minutes later Jimenez got in on the act, pouncing on a stray pass from Ben Godfrey and producing a delicate dink over the goalkeeper to register his 50th Wolves goal and first back at Molineux since his injury.
The second period took a different complexion when Alex Iwobi reduced the deficit for the Toffees, and with Wolves unable to take their chances to make the game comfortable, Everton pushed right until the end, but the old gold learned their lessons from a week ago at Elland Road and held on to extend their unbeaten run to five matches.
Back on home soil for the first time in a month, Wolves were making up for lost time, and almost took the lead in spectacular fashion early on. Few Wolves supporters will forget Ruben Neves’ classic against the Toffees which opened up the 2018/19 campaign, and as he wound up a volley, we looked in for a repeat, but Pickford parried away the effort, and Conor Coady couldn’t turn home the rebound on the fall.
Next it was the turn of Francisco Trincao to be foiled by the England goalkeeper, as he flew through the air and produced a strong arm to deny the Portuguese his first Premier League goal. Then, a man very familiar with finding the back of the net recently – Hee Chan Hwang, thought he’d squeezed home the opening goal, following a strong Jimenez run, but VAR intervened, with the South Korean marginally ahead of the last defender.
However, the first-half would belong to the hosts, whose dominance eventually told on 28 minutes. Rayan Ait-Nouri was the creator, swinging in a fine corner onto the head of Kilman, who planted a firm effort beyond the dive of Pickford – the perfect way to score your first goal for Wolves, celebrating with knee slide.
Once the first arrived, the second wasn’t far behind either. This time, it took a helping hand from the visitors, who had Godfrey play a back pass to Pickford, but as it appeared the ball required more power, Jimenez pounced, getting in ahead of the goalkeeper and producing a delightful dink for his first goal back at Molineux since returning from injury.
Nothing could put a dampener on Wolves’ first-half from that point, particularly when Demarai Gray dragged wide when through and Mason Holgate blasted at the back post.
Half-time | Wolves 2-0 Everton
Wolves were cruising at the break, but the first sign of over confidence through a stray Jose Sa pass was nearly punished by Richarlison, who was denied a bundled finish as the goalkeeper recovered to save. Following that let off, Wolves recovered an when Nelson Semedo squared for Jimenez, the Mexican watched his header come back off the outside of the post.
The next goal would dictate the complexion of the closing stages and it went to Everton, who brought the game back to life when Iwobi fired home a snapshot beyond Sa. Even then, Wolves had an instant chance to regain their two-goal lead when Hwang fed Trincao, but after skipping past the defender, the Portuguese fired wide with the goal gaping.
That missed chance ensured a nervy ending and Anthony Gordon’s header has Sa at full-stretch, but the goalkeeper did the business, reaching out a firm right hand to see out the victory.
Full-time | Wolves 2 Everton 1
Wolves | Sa, Semedo, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Ait-Nouri, Neves, Dendoncker, Trincao (Podence 79), Hang (Silva 90+4), Jimenez (Dendoncker 90).
Unused subs | Ruddy, Storer, Hoever, Boly, Cundle, Traore.
Everton | Pickford, Coleman, Keane, Holgate, Godfrey, Townsend, Gbamin (Delph 46), Allan, Gray (Rondon 90), Iwobi (Gordon 78), Richarlison.
Unused subs | Begovic, Lonergan, Kenny, Welch, Davies, Tosun.
