Wolves’ woes continue as Keane winner sends Everton fourth

Michael Keane scored a fantastic header on the 77th minute to win the game for Everton, as they beat Wolves 2-1 at Molineux last night.

The Toffee’s move up to fourth in the Premier League as there is another twist in the tale in this year’s challenge for the Champions League spots.  

They got off to the perfect start after just eight minutes when Alex Iwobi scored his first League goal for Everton in over a year. The Nigerian finished off a wonderful team move conducted by magician James Rodriguez who passed into the channel for Lucas Digne who cut back for Iwobi to slot in.  

The hosts pulled one back to make it 1-1 just eight minutes later when Ruben Neves finished coolly after Rayan Ait-Nouri fizzed in a dangerous cross after expertly beating his man on the byline.  

This set up the tie to be a cracker, which it really was. It was end to end in the first half, with all of Everton’s play coming from one man. Rodriguez. The Columbian was at the helm of every attack, whether that was carrying the ball through the middle, or pinging the ball to the full backs.  

With a passing accuracy of 83% this season, the former Real Madrid playmaker has shown his full worth in only 11 games for the Merseyside club.  

Wolves now have only one win in nine Premier League games, a very disappointing run of results that sees them sitting in 14th place.  

Both sides struggled to get chances on target throughout the game, however this would be more understandable on Everton’s behalf considering they didn’t have a recognised striker in the starting eleven. 

This game was always going to be ending in a draw by the looks of how the second half was going, or it would be won with a screamer or a goal from a set piece. 

Well exactly that happened on the 77th minute when Andre Gomes teased a great ball in where England international Keane headed home to win it for Carlo Ancelotti’s men. 

The home side once again missed gunman Raul Jimenez who watched on from the stands. Fabio Silva who has been stepping in for the Mexican, fumbled a clear-cut chance in the first half when Jordan Pickford smartly saved. 

 The youngster clearly doesn’t have much confidence in himself, as last season he probably would have tucked that one away, but with pressure mounting it may be worth Silva having a few games off.  

Nuno Espirito Santo does now have the option of Patrick Cutrone which may be worth taking the gamble to see if their fortunes change up top. 

Keeping a clean sheet has also been a huge problem for the Midlands side this season. The last time they kept a clean sheet was 12 games ago at the back end of October. It is certainly relegation form, and Wolves must be careful if they do not want to start questioning a relegation battle at this crucial stage of the season.  

Speaking after the game Nuno recognised the need for his side to improve and said, “I’m very worried. It is something we know we need to improve but at the same time we are aware of what is happening and what we have to do for the future.” 

Ancelotti was delighted with his team’s valiant efforts and after the game said, “We have a bad memory of this game from last season, today was totally different. A different spirit, a different attitude. We played the game we planned. The boys were amazing.” 

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