Jack Grealish inspires improving Everton to thrilling win at Wolves

The maverick qualities that made Jack Grealish so popular in Aston Villa days are still there. Four years with Pep Guardiola failed to curb such edges. At Everton, the player who won the lot at Manchester City is rolling back to happier times while showing the value of his learnings at the Etihad.

Molineux saw a masterclass from the former boy wonder who wears the Everton No 18 shirt once donned by Paul Gascoigne and Wayne Rooney. Everton’s teenage new signing Tyler Dibling, a player of similar skill set and physical capabilities, an unused substitute here, can learn plenty. With Iliman Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, two willing creative partners, getting on the scoresheet, Everton, so long a grim sight to behold, have become enriching to watch.

David Moyes has his old-school reputation but will indulge free spirits in return for work ethic. He was, though, less impressed with the defending that let Wolves back into the contest.

Grealish was booed on his first touch by Wolves fans for his Aston Villa origins but by the seventh minute of his third game for Everton, his second Premier League start, he had surpassed his past two seasons’ total of Manchester City assists. To follow two last week against Brighton, Grealish’s nod back of a Vitalii Mykolenko cross supplied Beto up to nod in. Within 163 minutes of football for Everton, when Dewsbury-Hall scored, he had reached four assists.

As Everton dominated early proceedings there was audible disquiet in the Jack Hayward stand. Then came a goal against the run of play to lift home spirits and noise levels. Marshall Munetsi’s overlap caught Everton napping with his bouncing cross. Hwang Hee-chan’s finish was precise, one that belied a run of form that has led to head coach Vítor Pereira’s recent public defence of the Korean. When Emmanuel Agbadou hooked over the bar, the home fans were singing Pereira’s name; by this time last season, another indifferent start, predecessor Gary O’Neil was being barracked.

Jørgen Strand Larsen was missing from Wolves’ squad through injury according to Pereira, though there appears little change in his desire to join Newcastle. Or Wolves’ intention to keep the Norwegian. Good strikers are hard to come by and Wolves need much more than that.

Grealish was the heart of Everton’s well-executive second, linking the play with Dewsbury-Hall with a disguised, slipped pass before Ndiaye slotted in, School of Science stuff. Immediately before, José Sá had made a smart save from Grealish.

View image in fullscreen Vítor Pereira and his disappointed Wolves players at the final whistle. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

Ndiaye had the ball in the net within seconds of the resumption after the break, only for offside to be ruled out. When Beto is pulling off dummies it suggests a forward line full of confidence. Wolves looked far less confident. In midfield, Idrissa Gueye, clad in white tights, was breaking up play while Grealish, when dropping back, was winning back the ball and buying fouls to kill momentum.

Hard yards put in, another assist. He and Dewsbury-Hall appear on a wavelength. After Grealish dabbed the ball inside, a left-foot finish doubled Everton’s lead. Jackson Tchatchoua, Wolves’ wing-back, was soon subbed. He and Hugo Bueno, on the left flank, also removed, were given a painful examination by Everton’s constant attacks down their flank, Grealish forever the out-ball.

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In the stands, rebellion. “Back the team or sell the club” sounded the chant. The days when the owners, Fosun International, made Wolves a destination for talent appears long past. Pereira, the manager who rescued the club last season. is struggling. This season already resembles a year ago, when O’Neil was defenestrated. Sasa Kalajdzic, involved after 18 months out, came on, before another sub, Rodrigo Gomes, set up the last 10 minutes with a volleyed finish from summer signing David Møller Wolfe’s cross.

Pereira urged on his team and the crowd, Wolves at last filled with purpose. Grealish was asked to revive the ball-retention role he fulfilled at City until he was removed to a standing ovation from the away fans with seconds left. Jordan Pickford, Everton’s saviour of the last few years, finished the job, saving from Jean-Ricner Bellegarde before Rodrigo’s miss of the rebound sent grumbling Wolves fans home. Their Everton equivalents meanwhile have a new hero.

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