Live Blog

Fulltime Thoughts - Everton can fairly complain that the penalty was yet another refereeing decision that has gone against them. What is not in doubt though is that they were second best to a well-drilled Wolves side who deserved the scoreline.

Premier League

90+4’ - Everton can fairly complain that the penalty was yet another refereeing decision that has gone against them. What is not in doubt though is that they were second best to a well-drilled Wolves side who deserved the scoreline.
Mercifully, it’s over.

90’ - Anthony Taylor has added four more minutes of this, likely to allow Wolves to score three more times.

86’ - Patricio gathers and sets off a great counter, finds Jota again streaking behind the backline, he centers for the completely unmarked Traore who hammers it.. off the crossbar! Lol.

83’ - The game’s not over yet, unfortunately. They’re still playing, for some reason, no one knows why.
Just like last season, a hammering from Wolves ends even the faintest glimmer of European football on the horizon.

77’ - Everton’s answer? A lovely cross into the box for DCL, heads down and right at Patricio. Too easy for Wolves.

75’ - Everton coming back into it, what was that? Bernard easily bundled off the ball by Neves, his long raking diagonal is wonderfully controlled by Jota charging in, and his low shot beats Pickford at the near post, 3-0. Beautiful football from the hosts here.

73’ - Digne starts and finishes the best move of the day for the Blues. Wins a freekick off Traore, curls a freekick into the box, ball is cycled then fed well to him and he has a shot at the far post and it goes just wide.

67’ - Sigurdsson shot in the box charged down for a corner. It’s a good one this time but cleared away.
Second drinks break and Wolves will bring on Adama Traore, who will gladly run right at Digne who has already been booked and conceded a penalty today.

64’ - Good cross from Digne deep to Coleman, who heads at goal but blocked away for a corner.
Sigurdsson terrible corner and allows Wolves to break. Jota gets away from Davies from a beautiful ball by Neves. Pickford does very well 1-on-1, and Jimenez following up gets a corner. Taken short and cleared away.

61’ - Podence beats Digne who backs off before giving away another penalty. From a sharp angle he fires in on Pickford who fumbles through his legs, the goalie turns and scrambles it clear. Lord help us.

Fifth sub will be Moise Kean on for Richarlison who has cut an increasingly sorry figure.

59’ - Keane goes in the book now for fouling Jimenez.
Wolves corner on the Everton left, handball by Jimenez and Everton can bring the ball out.

56’ - Double sub now with Bernard and Alex Iwobi on for Gordon and Walcott.
Still a 4-4-2, with Iwobi and Bernard on the right and left of the midfield.

53’ - Decent spell of Everton possession ends with Coleman lifting a wayward cross into the box that Patricio easily gathers. His crossing accuracy has always been the weakest part of his game.

50’ - Podence finds Neves, his shot from distance is climbing and over.

46’ - Jarrad Branthwaite is making his Everton debut, coming on for Baines. Straightaway he commits a foul on the left. Neto curls the ball towards goal, Dendoncker gets ahead of the 18-year-old and heads into the far post, 2-0.
Brutal lessons for the youngster.

Halftime Thoughts - Everton have been poor, which was not unexpected. They have defended well though, showing cohesion despite ongoing tweaks and changes. But sitting back and inviting a team like Wolves to attack ends only one way, and that is the story of how Wolves lead 1-0 at the break.

Statheads, look away now.

Premier League

45+2’ - Everton can count themselves somewhat unlucky because they have defended with discipline, but the better team leads and that’s halftime.

45+1’ - Podence has been the liveliest of the Wovles players, and now wins a penalty off Digne. He was going out of the box and the Frenchman went in hard, right on the edge of it.
Jimenez steps up, sends Pickford the wrong way and Wolves lead 1-0.

45’ - It’ll be two-plus minutes added on. Sounds about right.

40’ - There’s really not been anything to write about. Wolves are moving the ball around well, but not getting any penetration with Everton sitting deep and defending compactly.

31’ - Seamus Coleman is coming on, Mina unbelievably has tweaked his knee trying to dribble in his own box. Yikes.

28’ - Blues giveaway a needless corner, cleared away, but Wolves are still controlling play.
Mina is down looking uncomfortable, looks to have tweaked his right knee.

26’ - Two good saves from Pickford keep Everton level. First Podence is asking questions of him at the near post and he saves well. Then Everton fail to clear their lines a couple of times, and it allows Jimenez to let off a scissor kick from inside the box, but Pickford saves smartly again.

22’ - Drinks break. Everton have had more of the ball for the last few minutes, but neither side has really created any good chances. Wolves controlling possession 52%-48%.

19’ - Digne tugs Neto back as Wolves look to break on the counter. Anthony Taylor hands him a yellow card for that.

17’ - Finally some endeavour. Walcott plays in Gordon who finds the veteran again, a beautiful cross across the face of the goal from Theo but neither DCL nor Richarlison attack the ball.

12’ - Raul Jimenez wins a corner on the Everton right, taken short and wasted.
The Toffees giving the ball away needlessly does not help anything, Tom Davies guilty early on.

10’ - Defensively Everton are holding their shape, it’s when they have the ball that they look really uninspired.

7’ - All Wolves early on. They are pressing Everton who have no idea what to do with the ball in the rare times they do have it.

3’ - Confirmed, it is a 3-5-2, with Lucas Digne in the backline and Baines as left wingback.
Podence who has gotten the start on the left side of the attack, tries to find the far post and Jordan Pickford saves very well.
Now Walcott finds DCL with a lovely ball, and his shot from a narrow angle is also saved.

1’ - And we’re underway, just three more games in this season after this.

Carlo Ancelotti was asked by Sky about his formation. His answer is either funny or scary, or both.

Lineups - Leighton Baines & Theo Walcott return to the starting lineup, but that’s about all we can tell. 4-4-2? 3-5-2? Does it matter?

The early kickoffs have not been kind to Everton. Awful record the Blues have in these affairs.

Y’know, Sundays are just not good days for Evertonians.

While we’re on awful stats, here’s another one.

Preview

Everton found themselves in a remarkably similar position late last season too. They were still in contention for the last Europa League berth when they took on Wolverhampton Wanderers in a duel that would pretty much decide who got the 7th spot. Needing a big performance, like the Blues have done so many times in recent years they were flat and overrun by a hungry Wolves side.

Now there’s a handful more teams in the midtable mishmash and with Everton picking up eight of the available fifteen points since the resumption of the Premier League, once again they take on a Wolves side that has been on an excellent streak but after two sharp losses find themselves smarting and looking to get back on track. They will host a tired and spineless Everton side that Carlo Ancelotti is somehow still shepherding to the finish line. Seventh placed Wolves are seven points clear of the Blues in eleventh and anything less than a win will pretty much confirm another season without European football at Goodison Park.

Ancelotti is slowly getting some players back to fitness, with Mason Holgate and Andre Gomes both facing late fitness tests and Theo Walcott back in the squad. However Fabian Delph is still recovering and will not be available again.

Wolves have lost their last two games to Arsenal and Sheffield United who are both in the melee with them for a spot in Europe. Nuno Santo had his side playing expansive attacking football earlier in the season fighting on multiple fronts, but he almost has his full squad to select from, with only Adama Traore and Pedro Neto facing late fitness tests.

Match Details

Competition: Premier League Matchday 35

Date and start time: Sunday, July 12th at 8:30 a.m. PT / 11:30 a.m ET / 4:30 p.m. BST

Stadium: Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, England, United Kingdom

Capacity: 32,050

Weather: 64°F/18°C, showers, 0% chance of precipitation, 4 mph winds

How to Watch/Listen

TV: NBCSN, Telemundo - United States; Sky Sports Premier League, Sky Sports Main Event - United Kingdom; DAZN - Canada, beIN Sports HD 2, SuperSport 1 & 3 Africa, RMC Sport 1, Canal+ France

Radio: evertontv

Live stream: NBC Sports App, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, SKY GO Extra, ESPN Play Sur, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, DStv Now, RUSH

Gamethread: Live blog above starting one hour before game time

*Royal Blue Mersey has affiliate partnerships and may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links provided.

Information from LiveSoccerTV.com

Lineups

Everton

XI: Pickford, Baines (c), Keane, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin, Sigurdsson, Walcott, Digne, Mina, Davies, Gordon.

Subs: Stekelenberg, Virginia, Iwobi, Sidibé, Bernard, Coleman, Kean, Branthwaite, Baningime.

Wolves

XI: Patricio; Saiss, Coady, Boly; Jonny, Neves, Dendoncker, Doherty; Podence, Jimenez, Neto.

Subs: Ruddy, Kilman, Vinagre, Buur, Jordao, Gibbs-White, Moutinho, Traore, Jota

Last Meeting

The Blues played Wolves earlier this season, winning by the odd one in a five-goal thriller in September, getting a brace from Richarlison and Alex Iwobi nabbing the other.

The last time Everton went to Molineux was the first game of last season, also the first game of Marco Silva’s Toffees tenure. In a dramatic game that saw Phil Jagielka controversially sent off and the hosts pulled back the equalizer in a 2-2 draw.