Wolves 1 Everton 1 - Report

The Toffees took the lead after even open exchanges through a deflected Jack Harrison strike.

But Munetsi slid in to equalise before half-time to deservedly level for Wolves.

The hosts pushed for a second half winner but were unable to find it, as they extended their lead to the relegation zone to six points.

Analysis

Vitor Pereira was handed an injury boost as Wolves welcomed Everton to Molineux.

Matt Doherty, Emmanuel Agbadou, Munetsi and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde were all fit enough to start the game, as Rodrigo Gomes and Goncalo Guedes made their returns from injury by being named on the bench.

Matheus Cunha served the first game of his ban, while Boubacar Traore and Carlos Forbs missed out.

Wolves were positive and confident in possession in the opening 10 minutes but failed to create a chance, while Everton’s best moment was an Abdoulaye Doucoure shot from the edge of the box that was blocked well by Toti Gomes.

Moments later the ball fell to Doucoure in the box for a big chance but his near post shot was blocked by Agbadou.

Wolves had their best chance when Joao Gomes won the ball in midfield and the hosts broke forward in numbers. Rayan Ait-Nouri had the ball in space on the edge of the box but ignored the obvious pass to either Jorgen Strand Larsen or J.Gomes and saw his shot deflect wide.

From the resulting corner Munetsi had a back post header saved by Jordan Pickford.

There was little to separate both sides with Wolves just missing the final pass as they went searching for the opening goal.

But it was the Toffees that took the lead in the 33rd minute. Jesper Lindstrom switched play to find Harrison on the left inside the box, he shaped onto his left foot and found the bottom corner with an effort that took a huge deflection off Doherty.

However, Wolves responded just seven minutes later with a crucial equaliser.

Ait-Nouri did well with a pass to find Bellegarde inside, who did superbly to charge forward and slip in Munetsi, who slid in to beat Pickford for his first Wolves goal.

Neither side found a further breakthrough as the two teams entered half-time drawing 1-1.

As the second half got under way, goalscorer Munetsi was replaced by Pablo Sarabia.

The substitution’s first impact saw him hit the side netting directly from a free-kick, as he came close to giving Wolves the lead.

Sarabia’s excellent reverse pass then found Larsen who forced Pickford into a save.

At the other end Beto was in, but Jose Sa made a smart save.

The Molineux crowd was loud and urging the players on, who responded and pushed for a winning strike with 15 minutes of normal time left to play.

But they could not find it as they took a hard-earned point at home, extending their advantage over their relegation rivals.

Key Moments

GOAL 33 Harrison fires Everton into the lead via a deflection

GOAL 40 Munetsi slides in to level for Wolves

Teams

Wolves: Sa, Semedo (Bueno, 92), Doherty, Agbadou, Toti, Ait-Nouri, Andre (Doyle, 92), J.Gomes, Munetsi (Sarabia, 45), Bellegarde (Guedes, 83), Larsen (Hwang, 73).

Subs not used: Johnstone, Djiga, Lima, R.Gomes.

Everton: Pickford, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gueye, Garner (Young, 91), Doucoure (Alcaraz, 63), Lindstrom (Igoegbunam, 63), Harrison, Beto.

Subs not used: Virginia, Begovic, Patterson, Keane, Chermiti, Coleman.