Max Kilman’s first Wolves goal and Raul Jimenez’s 50th were enough to send Bruno Lage’s men into seventh place in the Premier League and condemn Everton to a third successive defeat.
Wolves dominated the opening period of an entertaining contest and were worthy of a comfortable half-time cushion provided by Kilman’s far-post header and a lovely clipped finish by Jimenez.
However, after being booed off at the break, Rafael Benitez’s visitors were much improved when they returned.
Alex Iwobi halved the deficit and it took a fabulous save by Jose Sa to deny substitute Anthony Gordon four minutes from time.
Wolves managed to avoid conceding an injury-time equaliser as they did at Leeds nine days ago to take their points tally to 13 from five games.
For Everton, their second-half improvement was scant consolation as early-season optimism continues to fade for a team yet again mired in mid-table, having now lost the same number of games as they have won.
Jimenez has his spark back
https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.44.0/iframe.htmlBruno Lage praises ‘very good’ Wolves performance in win over Everton
It has taken Jimenez a little bit of time to return to his effective best since suffering a fractured skull at Arsenal last season.
But the Mexican was a major threat to Everton.
It was his surging run that ended with Hwang Hee-chan prodding home a goal that was ruled out by VAR and there was no hesitancy about the striker’s finish when he capitalised on a Ben Godfrey backpass that managed to perfectly split Mason Holgate and Jordan Pickford.
Jimenez coolly chipped the ball over Pickford, who had already made two fabulous saves to deny Ruben Neves and Francisco Trincao when the game was still goalless.
In front of watching England boss Gareth Southgate, Pickford was earlier beaten when Kilman guided a header across goal and into the far corner.
It was the former England futsal international’s first goal as a professional and his celebration underlined the career journey that brought him to Wolves via unglamorous locations such as Maidenhead and Marlow.
BBC
