Match Review - Wolves 1 Everton 2 - Another Away Win for the Blues!

With the amount of games we have had in such a small time frame over recent weeks, it actually feels like an age since our last Premier League outing against West Ham. In between time we made it through to the fourth round of the FA Cup in unconvincing fashion, but at least got back to winning ways after suffering defeat at the hands of the Hammers.

The importance of this game against Wolves could not be overstated. Before a ball was kicked at the beginning of this season Wolves would have been seen as one of our main rivals for a Europa League spot. Prior to kick off tonight Everton sat 7 points ahead of Wolves in the table and therefore extending, or at least maintaining, this gap in order to keep Wolves at arms length was crucial.

Not only that, but with rumours circulating that the game against Aston Villa at the weekend could be postponed, leaving us with games in hand on a lot of teams, it was important to get a result tonight to make sure that we did not lose too much ground on the other teams around us (albeit with a chance to make up some points with the games in hand).

With the bad memories of the July fixture against Wolves still fresh in the memory, the task of getting a result was made more difficult with the news that Dominic Calvert-Lewin would not recover from a hamstring injury in time to be passed fit to play. We were therefore faced with the prospect of Cenk Tosun leading the line - Richarlison was also subject to a late fitness test ahead of the game.

Not for the first time though Carlo Ancelotti sprung a surprise with his team selection. With Richarlison only fit enough for a place on the bench, he chose not to name a striker in the starting 11 and left us guessing as to what the formation or system was actually going to be.

Now I've fallen into the trap of criticising the team selection before kick-off previously this season, only to be proved wrong at the full time whistle - so on this occasion I simply chose to reserve judgment (though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little concerned).

I have to say I was pleasantly shocked with how we started the game. The system seemed to afford the players a defensive structure but an offensive fluidity which we've not seen since the early part of the season. We were pressing high at the right times and knocking the ball about the pitch with a quick tempo - with a free role James Rodriguez at the forefront.

The excellent start brought a goal within 6 minutes. Iwobi played short to Rodriguez and continued his run towards the edge of the box. Rodriguez then picked out Lucas Digne with his trademark cross-field pass, with Digne having the quality to lay the ball off on the volley for the oncoming Iwobi to stroke home. It was nothing more than Everton deserved.

It wasn't long though before we allowed Wolves back into the game in more typical Everton fashion. The equaliser came against the run of play in my view and seemingly out of nothing. It was a poor goal to concede - Ruben Neves allowed to finish a cross unchallenged and unmarked at the back post.

Our lead lasted just 7 minutes. At this point the game had a really open feel to it. Despite worrying where our goals were going to come from when I saw the team news I felt that there were more goals in this game for both teams.

Typically, proceedings then settled down for the remainder of the first half with neither team able to edge their noses back in front. It would probably be fair to say we lacked the cutting edge in attack that we had shown in the early part of the game, demonstrated by the fact that our xG at half time was just 0.15. The game was finely poised for the second half though and the points were there for the taking for either side.

The second half started in similar fashion to how the first half had ended - played predominantly in the middle third of the pitch with both sets of players not looking to take any unnecessary risks. We struggled to get Rodriguez on the ball which was frustrating as in the first half he really had pulled the strings and seemed to find pockets of space wherever he went.

Whatever plan we had for trying to create goal scoring opportunities appeared to have gone out the window if I'm honest. We resorted to forcing crosses into the box where Gylfi Sigurdsson, playing as a "false 9", failed to trouble any of the Wolves defenders.

Richarlison then came on for Sigurdsson to offer us something different in attack, and as luck should have it, we almost immediately scored...from a cross! Shows how much I know. Richarlison was not involved however. Andre Gomes recycled the ball from a corner, and picked out Michael Keane with a pin-point cross on his weaker left foot who rose to head us back in front.

It was then just a case of seeing the game out which we did with relative ease, the manager again proving why you should always reserve judgement on his team selection until after the game.

Another 3 points on the road for the blues - our 6th away win of the season. Unbelievable really when you consider how bad our away record was before Carlo came to the club. The win puts us back up to 4th, level on points with Leicester and just 1 point behind Liverpool - again, incredible when you think we had a run of 1 win in 7 games following the Merseyside derby in October.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, we can't get too far ahead of ourselves and we need to just take each game as it comes - but boy is this an exciting time to be an Evertonian. With the players we still have to come back and with this manager at the helm, who knows what we can go on to achieve - not just this season but in the seasons to come.

Player Ratings

Pickford - 7 - never confident when the ball goes near him but did nothing wrong today

Godfrey - 7 - solid as ever and improving going forward also

Holgate - 7 - good defensively, didn't offer much going forward but didn't need to with Iwobi and James down his side

Keane - 8 - MOTM for me - defended well, incisive forward passing keeps us on the front foot, and scored the winner

Mina - 7 - Mr Consistent of late, another impressive display

Digne - 6 - quiet generally but still feeling his way back to match fitness

Davies - 6 - untidy at times but did his job to the best of his limited ability

Doucoure - 6 - thought he was a little bit lost in the system, picked up a cheap booking

Sigurdsson - 5 - benefit of the doubt given as played in an unfamiliar role but not involved at all

Iwobi - 8 - thought he was excellent, linked up really well with Rodriguez in attack and got the goal his performance deserved

Rodriguez - 8 - how good is it to have him back, just class

Gomes - 7 - did well when he came on and got himself an excellent assist

Richarlison - 6 - not really involved given we scored as soon as he came on and then just saw the game out

Coleman - N/A - not on for long enough