WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND - MARCH 08: David Moyes, Manager of Everton, acknowledges the fans after the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and Everton FC at Molineux on March 08, 2025 in Wolverhampton, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
David Moyes salutes the travelling Everton supporters after the 1-1 draw at Wolves
Everton had the last laugh in a poor game that ended in a draw that suited both sides. It is hard to escape the conclusion the Blues were thrown into the Saturday night graveyard shift because the world of football hoped to be able to watch as they fought a relegation dogfight with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
But the resurgence of recent weeks turned this into a game without an edge for David Moyes’ side, while Wolves also left Molineux with growing confidence they too might avoid sleepless nights in May.
Just like last season, when the authorities conspired to throw Everton into a late-night kick-off at Luton Town, the Blues were able to render the game almost meaningless by taking the sting out of their survival fight well in advance.
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The broadcasters may have to rethink their approach after being burned again. Not just because they were left with a match in which a point was useful to both teams, but also because the two teams served up a contest low on quality.
This was far from vintage Everton since Moyes’ return and, having had a period of much-needed respite following a gruelling February, if anything the players looked worse for having had their momentum halted.
For all that, this was a match that - like the two previous games against Manchester United then Brentford - the Blues could have won. They passed up the opportunity to seize control after opening the scoring with what may well have been Moyes’ dream goal heading into this fixture.
Amid the feel-good fuelled weeks that had seen him take the club 15 points clear of the bottom three, his demands had increasingly focused on the output of his wingers. Neither Jesper Lindstrom nor Jack Harrison had registered a goal or an assist this season and both have fought through periods where they have looked painfully short of confidence.
Both have also improved over recent weeks and when Lindstrom found Harrison on the edge of the Wolves box and the Leeds United loanee rifled past Jose Sa, with the help of a deflection, each had their breakthrough.
The response from the away end was emphatic and the surge in form inspired by Moyes threatened to sweep away another opponent. Instead of a night of positive headlines, this became one of frustration, however.
Everton had twice been warned of Marshall Munetsi’s prowess from set pieces - the Zimbabwe international coming close before and after Harrison’s opener. But they allowed themselves to be undone from open play, giving Jean-Ricner Bellegarde too much time and space to drift inside from the Wolves left and thread a clever ball just behind Jarrad Branthwaite and into the path of Munetsi, who had slipped inside Vitalii Mykolenko and was able to finish past Jordan Pickford.
It was a costly loss of concentration and one that allowed Wolves back into this match.
In the second half, the hosts, buoyed at the reprieve, were the more threatening. Jorgen Strand Larsen forced a good save from the legs of Pickford as the hosts built pressure on the visitors.
But the introduction of Carlos Alcaraz on the hour provided the Blues with a menace that posed the visitors problems and Beto, who was a hair’s breadth from flicking an early Harrison cross past Jose Sa, had the big chance to win the match.
Instead, the in-form striker whose goals have been crucial to carrying Everton to safety, was unable to slot Alcaraz’s pass beyond the reach of Sa.
That and Strand Larsen’s effort were rare glimpses of entertainment in a second half in which the managers agreed Wolves were the better side. This was a game in which Moyes spent much of his time with his hands in the air or on his head as he expressed frustration at too many crosses being sent into the clutches of the home keeper.
He was pleased with the point, though, one that extends the Blues' unbeaten league run to eight games and takes them 16 points from trouble.
While he is unwilling to say his team are safe, Moyes' focus now is on searching for the minor improvements he can build his summer decision-making around.
He has the luxury to do that because, really, Everton are no longer in a relegation battle after the veteran Scot became the catalyst for a run that has made a mockery of the decision-makers who hoped the world could spend Saturday night watching the Blues fight through another crisis.