Everton 3 Wolves 2 – What the stats reveal

Wolves were far from their best, no doubt about it, but how do the statistics from the game stack up?

Well, with the help of whoscored.com – specialists in the in-depth analysis of detailed football data – let's go through the numbers.

Neves not getting forward enough

Ruben Neves is such a talented player and has won games for Wolves with some magnificent strikes from long range in the past.

But if there is one thing you can criticise him for, it's that he doesn't show enough attacking intent.

And his heatmap from Goodison Park tells the story.

Neves touched the ball 60 times, and most of those came in his own half – near the centre circle.

With defensive-minded Romain Saiss also playing in midfield, and Leander Dendoncker not being afraid to cover ground, it was fair to expect Neves to play with a bit more freedom. But he didn't.

He was not Wolves' worst performer on the day, but given how much ability he has, it is a bit frustrating not to see him look to cause problems in the final third.

Neves, usually so precise with his passing, also had a pretty low pass success rate of 64 per cent – 28 of his 44 passes in the game finding their target.

Wolves' most efficient passer of the ball was Ryan Bennett, with 83 per cent. The worst outfield player in gold and black in that regard was Leander Dendoncker, with just 56 per cent.

Vinagre targeted by Toffees

Ruben Vinagre had a difficult time dealing with Seamus Coleman and Richarlison – and once Everton knew he was not comfortable, they made the most of it.

The Toffees had a total of 682 touches, and the overall heatmap shows they kept going down the right flank, asking questions of the young Portuguese wing-back – most of which he did not have the answer for.

Vinagre struggled so much that he picked up a booking for an obvious foul and was continuously caught out of position after losing the ball while on the attack for Wolves.

Was Boly that bad?

Beaten far too easily by Richarlison for the winner and then sent off for picking up two bookings for fouls on the Brazilian, it was a day to forget for Boly.

I gave him a three in my player ratings as I thought it was his worst performance in a Wolves shirt.

However, there were some positives to the giant defender’s performance – he won the most aerial duels of anyone on the pitch, with 10.

Everton's Michael Keane was the next best, having won seven.

Boly also got an assist, flicking the ball on for Jimenez to head in from close range and make it 2-2 before Richarlison won it.

So, there were positives from Boly, but the negatives – losing the crucial aerial duel to Richarlison and getting dismissed – surely outweigh them?

Patrick's not afraid to shoot

Patrick Cutrone is yet to score since arriving from AC Milan in a big-money transfer over the summer, but it is not for the want of trying.

The Italian striker had the most shots for Wolves at Goodison, with three – and one of them went on target and forced a smart save from Jordan Pickford.

Interestingly, Everton defender Yerry Mina managed the same amount of shots.

Jimenez was Wolves' next best with two shots, but converted one of them.

Cutrone was also pretty efficient in terms of his passing, with seven of his nine passes accurate – giving him a 78 per cent success rate.

Deserved defeat

All in all, Wolves were second best in most areas, so it is hard to say their performance merited something from the game.

Everton had 15 shots to Wolves' eight. Everton had 58.8 per cent possession. Everton had a 80 per cent success rate as a team, compared to Wolves' 66.

And Everton made 23 tackles to Wolves' 19.

Wolves won more aerial duels (27 to 23) – while the two teams had seven corners each – but were guilty of being dispossessed more times (15 to 12).