Everton 4 (Young 10, Mangala 33, Dawson OG 49 & 72) Wolves 0
Wolves suffered a dismal evening on Merseyside, as their worst performance of the season was punished with a 4-0 defeat against Everton.
Ashley Young’s free-kick after ten minutes began Wolves’ troubles – a theme of the night, with set pieces a constant issue. When another delivery wasn’t dealt with on 33 minutes, Orel Mangala lashed home the second for the Toffees.
Wolves’ plight worsened after the interval with Craig Dawson finding the back of his own net twice, both from set piece deliveries. Matt Doherty hit a post for the visitors, who never looked like getting back in the game after falling behind. A horrible night at Goodison Park.
Wolves had actually started the game promisingly and should have been ahead within a minute. Joao Gomes sent Rayan Ait-Nouri clear down the left and he picked out Jorgen Strand Larsen in the middle – possibly his pass was a little behind the striker, but he’ll have been disappointed not to hit the target with his effort.
On eight minutes Matheus Cunha then stung the palm of Jordan Pickford with a curling effort from the edge, after good strength by Strand Larsen to outmuscle James Tarkowski.
However, just minutes later Everton punished Wolves for passing up those opportunities when Young curled around the outside of the wall and squeezed the ball between Sa and his post.
The hosts thought they’d doubled their lead on 16 too when Tarkowski rose highest to head home at Sa’s near post, but after a lengthy VAR check, and frustration around the delay from both sets of fans, the goal was ruled out after Mangala was adjudged to have interfered from an offside position.
Wolves looked to make the most of that let off when Strand Larsen turned Tarkowski inside the area, but again England goalkeeper Pickford produced a strong arm to preserve his clean sheet.
Then, the Toffees went up the other end to make it 2-0. After clearing the initial danger from Dwight McNeil’s delivery, Wolves didn’t deal with the return ball into the box and when the ball fell kindly for Mangala he put his foot through it and lashed home for 2-0.
Wolves struggled to responded for the remainder of the half and both Tarkowski and Abdoulaye Doucoure could have made it three if their finishes were more precise.
Half-time | Everton 2-0 Wolves
If the first-half was poor, the second was even worse for Gary O’Neil’s side. Wolves shifted to a back four with Mario Lemina pushing on, but Dawson found the back of his own net five minutes into the second half, with Sa rooted on his line from the corner, and the game was done.
Doherty did hit an Everton past at three down, heading on to the upright from a Joao Gomes cross, but that’s as close as Wolves came to a goal on the night.
Instead, Everton made it four, with Dawson credited with a second own goal from yet another set piece which Wolves couldn’t handle, put in by McNeil.
The closing stages were a difficult watch for the away end, with Everton passing up a host of opportunities to make the scoreline even more lobsided, with Jack Harrison missing two big chances, but the damage was done a long time before on a horrible night on Merseyside.
Full-time | Everton 4-0 Wolves
Everton | Pickford, Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gueye, Mangala (Armstrong 89), Doucoure (Lindstrom 83), McNeil (Harrison 74), Ndiaye, Calvert-Lewin (Broja 83).
Unused subs | Virginia, Patterson, Beto, O’Brien, Coleman.
Wolves | Sa, Doherty (R Gomes 77), Lemina, Dawson Bueno (Toti 77), Ait-Nouri, Andre, J Gomes (Doyle 85), Guedes (Hwang 57), Cunha, Strand Larsen.
Unused subs | Johnstone, Bentley, Lima, Bellegarde, Forbs.