Wolves 2 (Hwang 21, R Gomes 79) Everton 3 (Beto 7, Ndiaye 33, Dewsbury-Hall 55)
Wolves fell short of their first Premier League points of the season, slipping to defeat at home to Everton.
Beto opened the scoring within the opening 10 minutes, but Hee Chan Hwang soon equalised for Wolves. However, Illiam Ndiaye struck again before the interval to restore Everton’s lead and send the Toffees into the break ahead.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall extended the visitor’s lead 10 minutes after the restart, and although Rodrigo Gomes pulled one back late on to restore hope for the hosts, the elusive equaliser never arrived.
Fresh from a midweek cup victory over West Ham United, Vitor Pereira’s side were now looking to kickstart their Premier League campaign on home soil.
Wolves started brightly, enjoying a dominant spell of possession as they looked to settle into the contest. Their early intent was underlined by the first attempt on goal, when Jhon Arias let fly from distance, though Jordan Pickford gathered comfortably.
Despite Wolves’ positive start, it was Everton who opened the scoring. Following a flurry of crosses that were sent into and cleared out of the Wolves box, Vitaly Mykolenko eventually floated in an effective delivery to the back post. Jack Grealish cushioned a header back across goal, where Beto was waiting to nod home.
Pereira’s side responded confidently to going behind and drew back level just after the 20-minute mark. On his first Premier League start, Jackson Tchatchoua did brilliantly to latch onto a through ball down the right flank before whipping a wicked delivery across goal for Hwang to arrive onto and lash into the top corner.
The momentum shifted at Molineux, a change felt both in the stands and on the touchline, where Pereira was animated and fired up. Emmanuel Agbadou nearly repaid the favour when he was on the end of a well-worked corner routine, however, his acrobatic effort sailed over the crossbar.
In a first half full of momentum swings, Everton seized the initiative and carved out two more chances to retake the lead. First, Grealish was played through on goal, but Jose Sa got down well to deny him.
Moments later, however, the visitors did restore their advantage. Dewsbury-Hall was set free inside the Wolves penalty box and squared the ball across goal. Somehow, it evaded everyone in its path, allowing Ndiaye to calmly slot past Sa.
Half-time | Wolves 1-2 Everton
The Toffees emerged from the break on the front foot and thought they had a third goal within a minute of the restart when Ndiaye had the ball in the back of the net. However, the effort was ruled out, with the forward judged offside after Gueye’s initial strike had been blocked by Agbadou.
Wolves had been warned and knew they needed to find the game’s fourth goal - but instead, it was the visitors who struck again. Grealish drove at the heart of the Wolves defence before slipping Dewsbury-Hall through on goal, and the midfielder lashed a strike into the roof of the net via the underside of the crossbar.
The contest grew increasingly scrappy for large parts of the second half, littered with loose touches and wayward passes - not helped by the driving rain. In response, Pereira turned to his bench for reinforcements in an attempt to shift the momentum in his side’s favour.
Just as the afternoon looked to be slipping away from Wolves, two of Pereira’s substitutes combined to spark hope. David Moller Wolfe whipped in an inviting cross, and Rodrigo Gomes arrived to steer the ball home, setting up a tense final 10 minutes.
The hosts pressed for an equaliser and came agonisingly close in the fourth minute of stoppage-time. Rodrigo Gomes picked the ball up inside the area after Pickford had parried Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s effort from range, but the Portuguese man fired narrowly wide of the post.
Six minutes of stoppage-time expired and Wolves fell short of the equaliser that would have earned them their first point of the Premier League campaign, rounding off a frustrating afternoon for the Old Gold.
Full-time | Wolves 2-3 Everton
Wolves | Sa, Tchatchoua (R Gomes 65), S Bueno, Agbadou, Toti, H Bueno (Wolfe 75), Andre (Bellegarde 65), J Gomes, Munetsi, Arias (Lopez 65), Hwang (Kalajdzic 76).
Unused subs | Johnstone, Doherty, Mosquera, Krejci.
Everton | Pickford, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko, Gana (Iroegbunam 76), Garner, Ndiaye (Coleman 90+6), Dewsbury-Hall, Grealish (Alcaraz 88), Beto (Barry 76).
Unused subs | Travers, McNeil, Dibling, Armstrong, Onyango.
By Callum Greybanks
