Everton 1 Wolves 1 - Report
Wolves were unable to find a late winner against nine-man Everton after teenager Mateus Mane scored his second goal in as many games to earn the visitors a point.
The club’s first visit to the Hill Dickinson Stadium was not going to plan when Michael Keane struck to put the Toffees ahead in the first half.
Wolves took a while to get into their stride but an excellently worked move saw Mane race through and secure a second half equaliser as the 18-year-old continues to set the Premier League alight.
Keane was given a late red card for a hair pull on Tolu Arokodare before Jack Grealish saw Everton reduced to 10 men when he got a second yellow card for dissent.
But Wolves could not find the winning strike and they had to settle for a point on their travels as they went three matches unbeaten.
Analysis
Rob Edwards named an unchanged team after Wolves picked up their first win of the season last time out against West Ham.
Pedro Lima returned to the match day squad after his loan at Porto was cut short and he was named on the bench, alongside youngster Temple Ojinnaka, as Ki-Jana Hoever and Enso Gonzalez dropped out of the squad. Hoever was on the break of completing a loan move to Sheffield United before the game.
Wolves were still without Emmanuel Agbadou who is representing the Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations, alongside injured players Toti Gomes, Rodrigo Gomes, Marshall Munetsi and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde.
David Moyes made one change to his Everton side as he gave a full debut to teenager Harrison Armstong, as Tyler Dibling dropped to the bench.
The Toffees were also without a number of key players as Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye were at the Africa Cup of Nations and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jarrad Branthwaite, Seamus Coleman and Carlos Alcaraz were all injured.
The first chance of the game came when Grealish found some space down the left side and his cross was nodded down to Tim Iroegbunam, who controlled the ball and volleyed over from inside the box.
The hosts were edging the opening exchanges and took the lead after 17 minutes.
A Dwight McNeil free-kick from the left was headed out by Joao Gomes but only as far as Iroegbunam, who delivered a poor shot that fortuitously fell to Keane to smash into the top corner from close range.
Everton were buoyed by the early goal as Vitalii Mykolenko fired wide from outside the box, in the search for a second.
After 30 minutes Wolves had not put in a particularly poor performance on the level of many we have seen this season, but they were not quite at it and were struggling for anything to stick up front.
However, Wolves were struggling defensively and giving too many free-kicks away. It should have been 2-0 when James Garner delivered another free-kick, Keane beat Santi Bueno in the air, but saw his header crash back off the post.
Jose Sa was forced into a save to deny Garner before Yerson Mosquera beat Armstrong to the follow-up, as Wolves were caught on the back foot.
Hwang Hee-chan had a sight of goal before half-time but flashed it well wide as Wolves went into the break losing 1-0.
Wolves’ midfield experiment, that had worked so well in previous matches, was not working against the Toffees and as the second half got under way, Andre replaced Jhon Arias.
A head injury to Ladislav Krejci disrupted play for several minutes and once it restarted, Wolves were still failing to get going.
Space did open up for Mane 25 yards out, but he shot high and wide.
Wolves were offering very little until a brief spell where they had their tails up, and a lovely J.Gomes run resulted in him shooting low, but it was easy for Jordan Pickford.
Edwards brought on Jorgen Strand Larsen in the 68th minute, replacing Krejci, as Wolves switched to a back four.
That made an instant impact as Wolves equalised one minute later. Larsen came short for a Mosquera pass, turned and played a superb pass for Mane, who had made an excellent run, and he calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner.
Wolves were the stronger team after the goal and were given a bigger boost when the game was paused for a VAR intervention, that saw referee Thomas Kirk go to the pitchside monitor, and Keane was given a straight red card for pulling Arokodare’s hair in an aerial challenge.
As the game ticked beyond the 90th minute, Grealish won a free-kick and sarcastically clapped the referee, earning him a second yellow card and reducing Everton to nine men.
The officials then announced nine minutes of added time as Wolves pushed for a winner.
Hugo Bueno thought he had won it when he cut onto his right foot and his effort was destined for the top corner, but Pickford pulled off a huge fingertip save.
Arokodare nodded not far wide from a corner, too, but Wolves were unable to find a winner against a stubborn Everton defence.
Key Moments
GOAL 17 Keane puts Everton ahead
GOAL 69 Mane slots home a Wolves equaliser
Teams
Wolves: Sa, Tchatchoua, Mosquera, S.Bueno, Krejci (Larsen, 68), H.Bueno, J.Gomes, Mane, Arias (Andre, 45), Hwang (Lima, 95), Arokodare.
Subs not used: Johnstone, Doherty, Wolfe, Ojinnaka, Chirewa, Lopez.
Everton: Pickford, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko, Garner, Iroegbunam, McNeil (Rohl, 91), Armstrong (Patterson, 87), Grealish, Barry (Beto, 87).
Subs not used: Travers, King, Dibling, Aznou, Welch, Campbell.
