Wolves 1 (Munetsi 40) Everton 1 (Harrison 33)
Wolves responded to FA Cup disappointment by adding a point to their Premier League tally against Everton under the lights at Molineux on Saturday evening.
A week after falling out of the cup, Wolves turned their attention to pulling clear of top flight relegation danger, although Jack Harrison put that in doubt when he opened the scoring for the Toffees in the 33rd minute.
However, a first goal in Old Gold for Marshall Munetsi gave the hosts an equaliser, before a goalless second period meant the points were shared in the Black Country.
Looking to extend their unbeaten run in the Premier League to eight games, Everton started the better of the two teams, despite neither side seizing control early on in the game.
The visitors had a good chance to take the lead through Abdoulaye Doucoure, who was denied by Jose Sa. Vitaly Mykolenko squared a ball across the penalty box to land at the midfielder’s feet, he kept the chance alive after some clever improvisation, but his shot on the turn was saved by Sa’s boot.
Rayan Ait-Nouri began the game in his usual maverick self, and looked to help fill the void left by Cunha’s absence. The Algerian picked up a loose ball on the halfway line before driving at goal, he opted to test Pickford himself, but his effort was deflected wide for a corner.
From the resulting set-piece, Wolves nearly capitalised when Munetsi rose highest in the penalty box and powered a header low at Pickford, with the England number one doing well to deny the header.
By the half-hour mark, the game lacked real quality and was crying out for someone to stamp their mark on the evenly balanced contest, and Harrison answered the call. He arrived inside the penalty area on his favoured left foot and found the net - with a stroke of luck as a deflection off Matt Doherty put it out of Sa’s reach.
The goal sparked the game into life - and Wolves along with it. They upped their game and went close through Bellegarde. Joao Gomes expertly turned away from his marker before feeding Bellegarde - arriving just outside the area - and he opened up his body before curling an effort just wide of the post.
Wolves responded excellently to going a goal behind, and got their reward with an equaliser five minutes before half-time. Bellegarde, impressive throughout the first-half, advanced the ball to the edge of the area and played a beautiful through ball into Munetsi’s path, who calmly stroked past Pickford to level the game again.
Sensing the shift in momentum, the Molineux crowd grew louder and the coat was off for Pereira as he watched his side dominate the closing stages of the first-half. Despite their improved play, Wolves failed to add another goal to the scoresheet - but they carried optimism into the second 45.
Half-time | Wolves 1-1 Everton
Despite scoring the leveller, Munetsi was withdrawn at the break, with Pablo Sarabia replacing the goalscorer. The Spaniard went close with a free-kick just seven minutes after his introduction, but his effort from the right side on the edge of the penalty area could only find the side netting.
The second half failed to impress as the aforementioned Sarabia chance was the only shot within 20 minutes of the restart. Neither side took control of the game, with both managers in the dugout turning to their bench for reinforcements.
As the final 20 minutes approached, Wolves were building momentum and Everton were being made to work harder. They enjoyed a brief spell of good pressure and nearly went ahead through Strand Larsen after he latched onto a perfect through ball from Sarabia, but his strong effort was denied by Pickford.
Following the promising spell, Carlos Alcaraz broke free for Everton as they went up the other end and also came close to a second. Alcaraz and Beto stormed forward as the former laid it off to the latter inside the area, now one-on-one with Sa, but the Wolves shot stopper did excellently to turn the effort to safety.
Wolves’ momentum fizzled out with five minutes remaining and Everton came close again, this time it was Alcaraz, making an impact off the bench. Jake O’Brien played a cut-back to Alcaraz lurking on the edge of the area, he dummied on his left before striking with his right, met by Sa who was comfortably behind the effort.
It was a slow end to an uneventful second half as neither side mounted real pressure to grab the winner, but ultimately both sides added another point on the board to move further clear of the relegation zone.
Full-time | Wolves 1-1 Everton
Wolves | Sa, Semedo (Bueno 90+2), Doherty, Agbadou, Toti, Ait-Nouri, Andre (Doyle 90+2), J. Gomes, Bellegarde (Guedes 83), Munetsi (Sarabia 45), Strand Larsen (Hwang 73).
Unused subs | Johnstone, Lima, Djiga, R. Gomes.
Everton | Pickford, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gueye, Garner (Young 90+1), Doucoure (Alcaraz 63), Lindstrom (Iroegbunam 63), Harrison, Beto.
Unused subs | Virginia, Begovic, Patterson, Keane, Chermiti, Coleman.
Report by Callum Greybanks
