Everton 3-2 Wolves: Richarlison Nets Twice To Seal Toffees Win
Richarlison netted twice for Everton in a topsy-turvy encounter in which Wolves came from behind twice but eventually lost 3-2 to the Toffees on Super Sunday.
The Brazilian got things rolling early on when punishing a defensive howler from Conor Coady (5), but Romain Saiss fired Wolves level (9) after some tricky work from Adama Traore. In what was a pulsating start to the game, Alex Iwobi – on his full Premier League debut for the Toffees – then headed Everton in front again (12).
Raul Jimenez bravely headed the visitors back into the contest (75), but Everton always carried the greater threat going forward and Richarlison netted the winner with a clever header (80) when rising above Willy Boly, who was sent off in injury-time for a second booking.
Player Ratings
Everton: Pickford (7), Coleman (6), Keane (7), Mina (7), Digne (7), Delph (8), Andre Gomes (6), Richarlison (8), Sigurdsson (8), Iwobi (7), Kean (7)
Subs: Bernard (6), Calvert-Lewin (6)
Wolves: Rui Patricio (6), Bennett (5), Coady (4), Boly (5), Vinagre (5), Traore (6), Dendoncker (6), Saiss (6), Cutrone (6), Neves (6), Jimenez (6).
Subs: Moutinho (6), Jota (6), Neto (6)
Man of the match: Fabian Delph
How Toffees recovered from sticky situation…
Wolves looked nervy in the early stages, highlighted by Coady’s hesitant backpass to Rui Patricio which surprised the goalkeeper and the ball eventually fell to Richarlison, who smacked it home from 18 yards.
Everton had not conceded at home since February, in their last Goodison defeat, but they were breached on nine minutes when Traore skipped past Lucas Digne and his low cross rebounded to Saiss who fired home.
Team news
Marco Silva brought in Fabian Delph, Alex Iwobi and Moise Kean for their first Premier League starts for the club while Ruben Vinagre, Adama Traore, Leander Dendoncker, Patrick Cutrone and Romain Saiss were all given chances to shine as Nuno Espirito Santo made five changes.
But Everton responded three minutes later as the influential Gylfi Sigurdsson swung in a right-wing cross which allowed Iwobi to head home.
The game dropped in tempo after that as it became more of a scrap in midfield with quality in short supply, especially from the visitors.
However, Wolves did find an unlikely way through with 15 minutes to go as Jimenez took advantage of Digne’s slow reactions to bravely head home despite getting a kick in the face.
His desire was in vain though as Richarlison had the last laugh, leaping highest to divert Digne’s cross into the corner.
Wolves had no response and Boly’s second yellow card for a foul on Richarlison was all they could muster.
Man of the match: Fabian Delph
Full of bite, energy and class in the middle of the park. No-one made as many passes as him on the field (62) as he controlled the midfield up against Ruben Neves. So far this looks like £9m well spent.
Sky Sports co-commentator Jamie Carragher said: “He was excellent, full of experience and leadership. He does the job that Idrissa Gueye did so well.”
Manager reaction: Marco Silva
“He showed a very good performance and Fabian is not in his best physical condition yet,” Silva revealed about the man-of-the-match.
“He will improve more. I was concerned a little bit if he could play the 90 minutes this afternoon because he played 70-75 on Wednesday.
“He was really good on the pitch. If not, I would take him out before the end. His quality, no doubts about that. He showed that and it’s really important.”
