Everton hit four past Wolves as they racked up their biggest home win since April 2019 to ease some of the growing pressure on their manager Sean Dyche.
The Premier League’s joint-lowest scorers suddenly found their fortunes had changed as Ashley Young scored his first goal in more than two years just eight months short of his 40th birthday to kick-start a vital victory.
But becoming the club’s oldest goalscorer and the oldest player to rack up 50 in the Premier League was merely the start of an extraordinary game on one of the few remaining nights under the lights at Goodison Park.
On-loan midfielder Orel Mangala, having being found guilty by VAR of interfering from an offside position when James Tarkowski netted, made amends by lashing home for his first since joining from Lyon.
However, the luck did not extend to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, back in the side after being dropped against Manchester United, whose goalless run extended to 10 games after Craig Dawson was credited with two second-half own goals after coming under pressure from the striker who looked a lot brighter than in recent games.
The result puts the Wolves head coach Gary O’Neil under even more scrutiny with the team second from bottom and four adrift of safety.
With fixtures to come against top-six sides Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, having already been hammered 4-0 at Old Trafford, even in December this was a must-win game for Everton and success lifted them five clear of the bottom three.
However, no-one could have predicted the one-sided nature of a game which, before kick-off, pitted the league’s joint-worst attack (10 goals) against the worst defence (Wolves conceded 35) and the subdued atmosphere exemplified how high the stakes were.
Everton have a swift turnaround with a lunchtime kick-off in Saturday’s Merseyside derby with Dyche admitting afterwards they will not be resting on their laurels and will be straight back into training on Thursday.
