Andre Gomes cancelled out Ruben Neves’ opener from the penalty spot before goals by Raul Jimenez and Leander Dendoncker cemented Wolves’ seventh-placed spot in the Premier League.
Everton boss Marco Silva said he understood the reaction of the crowd after his team were booed off Goodison Park following an impressive Wolves victory.
Everton have won just three of their past 12 league games and their latest defeat was greeted with boos from the stands. “I understand they expect to see a good afternoon and a good game,” said Silva, who has been in charge since May 2018.
“They want us to achieve the position in the table and I can imagine they are not happy. We must keep fighting to improve.” The game was stopped for around three minutes in the second half because of a black cat on the pitch.
What now for Everton?
There were seven additional minutes at the finish, partly due to the time it took to for the cat to come off the pitch, and thousands of Everton fans had already left Goodison Park by the time referee Lee Mason blew the final whistle.
This was Everton’s sixth defeat in nine league and cup games – and their 10th in the Premier League this season.
Knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship side Millwall last week and unable to string together a positive run of results in the top tier, the season is already threatening to peter out with 13 matches left.
Everton were edgy and anxious, a team lacking in confidence, against Wolves. Marco Silva’s side got off to an awful start when Leighton Baines conceded an early penalty after fouling Matt Doherty before the Toffees captain limped off early.
Although Gomes equalised with a lovely finish – his first for the club since joining on loan from Barcelona in August – Wolves’ second goal was a disaster for Everton.
The Toffees have conceded a number of goals from set-pieces all season and when Michael Keane gave away a needless free-kick, Joao Moutinho found an unmarked Jimenez to head home.
It got worse, Leander Dendoncker sealing a thoroughly deserved three points for Wolves with a volley. Everton are already enduring the longest trophy-free period in the club’s history. They now face a mediocre mid-table finish unless Silva can sort his team out quickly.
Are Wolves the ‘best of the rest’?
The season just gets better and better for impressive Wolves. Last season’s second-tier champions can add Everton to the list of teams they have beaten away from home – a list which includes West Ham, Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Tottenham.
This was as good a performance as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have produced since winning promotion. Wolves were sharp, clinical and full of creativity on Merseyside as they scored three or more goals in three consecutive top-flight matches for the first time since March 1980.
They require two more points to reach 40 – but Wolves’ ambitions stretch more than just staying up. The Black Country are seven points behind sixth-placed Manchester United with around one-third of the campaign left.
Man of the match – Diogo Jota (Wolves)
‘We are not looking at the table’ – what the managers said
Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo:
“We are proud of the work we did. We were better in the first half and in the second half both teams were organised. “It requires a lot of shape and being compact but when we achieved the third goal the game was done for us.
“Everton are a very good team, good manager. “It’s tough to come here with atmosphere but we will go game by game, this is the approach we have. “There is a long way to go and we can improve. We are not looking at the table until we go again.”
Everton’s poor run against teams above them – the stats
- Everton have won just one of their nine Premier League games this season against teams starting the day higher than them in the table – losing the last five in a row.
- Wolves have won 11 Premier League games this season – their joint-highest tally in a single Premier League campaign.
- Everton’s Andre Gomes scored his first Premier League goal in what was his 17th appearance in the competition.
- Wolves’ Raul Jiminez has been directly involved in more Premier League goals than any other Wolves player this season (nine goals, five assists).
What’s next?
It doesn’t get any easier for Everton. Manchester City visits Goodison Park on Wednesday in the Premier League (19:45 GMT), while Wolves are in action on Tuesday when they entertain League One Shrewsbury in a FA Cup fourth-round replay.
Source: BBC News
