The verdict as Everton shot themselves in the foot to draw 1-1 with Wolves and lose two key players for the weekend’s FA Cup clash with Sunderland
23:02, 07 Jan 2026Updated 23:55, 07 Jan 2026
Everton saw two players sent off as they drew with Wolves(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
Everton’s season imploded on a night of self-sabotage on the Liverpool waterfront.
With 25 minutes to go the Blues were leading Wolves and sitting just three points off the top four. If they could have seen out this match against a team that is resurgent but staring into the abyss of the Championship, much of the damage of the disastrous home defeat to Brentford days earlier would have been undone.
Instead, the home side capitulated. A soft equaliser was followed by two shambolic, unnecessary red cards that left them hanging on for a point that now feels of little value.
The season is not over and the fact Everton will almost certainly avoid a relegation fight for the first time in five years means progress has already been achieved. But a second half of the season that held so much potential now lies on a precipice. As bad as the psychological collapse on Wednesday night is the consequence it will now have for the weekend. Following their sendings off both Michael Keane and Jack Grealish will leave David Moyes’ depleted squad with even fewer options for a challenging FA Cup tie with Sunderland.
OPINION
Chris Beesley
OPINION
Chris Beesley
Referee Thomas Kirk left the pitch to a deafening crescendo of boos after he sent both Keane and Grealish off in a chaotic final 20 minutes. Both played a role in their downfall, however. Keane was shown a straight red after an intervention from VAR that incensed Hill Dickinson Stadium. Footage appeared to show that he pulled the hair of Tolu Arokodare while competing for a ball near the halfway line but what that should have led to was quickly the subject of intense dispute. Moyes, seething after the game, derided the call with the argument: “It was not violent. It was not forceful. It was not deliberate.”
Whether or not it should have been a red card will now be debated online, in studios and on the airwaves for days to come but one thing was clear – once Keane’s actions were spotted an early bath was inevitable, whether or not they were intended.
Keane expressed outrage as he walked off the pitch while Moyes was booked for his protest after Kirk told the stadium: “After review, Everton 5 commits an act of violent conduct on the Wolves 14. My final decision will be red card and a direct free kick to Wolves.”
That unfolded in the 83rd minute and in the seven that followed, Grealish picked up two yellow cards for dissent – both for sarcastically applauding Kirk over decisions as he, like most in the stadium, roiled at the officials’ calls. One yellow borne from frustration may have been understandable. To get two was a lapse of maturity that led to his first ever Premier League red card and will have implications for Everton’s hopes of a cup run.
For all the controversy of the final 10 minutes, the defining moment of this game in fact came in the 69th when Mateus Mane burst between James Tarkowski and Jake O’Brien and produced a fine finish past Jordan Pickford. Everton had started to live dangerously in the minutes before that hammer blow. While good chances had been in short supply for Wolves, Everton had started to allow the visitors to build pressure and the introduction of Jorgen Strand Larsen proved crucial. One of his first acts was to drop deep into a chasm of space in the midfield and he used the time and freedom to pick out Mane’s run. Tarkowski had started to track the forward but did not follow it and the space his initial steps created provided the opening for Mane.
There was still time for a reaction but Everton were unable to build fresh momentum – though the home side had genuine reason for anger when Hwang Hee-Chan was awarded only a yellow card for a nasty foul on Harrison Armstrong. In the closing stages it ended up being Wolves that would come closest to a winner, Jordan Pickford producing a stunning save to deny Hugo Bueno’s curling effort.
Everton held the lead before that point after a first hour in which they were the better side but were unable to finish the game as a contest. Keane had looked set to make the headlines for all the right reasons when he cleverly diverted Tim Iroegbunam’s wild shot past Jose Sa as Wolves struggled to deal with a free-kick. Soon after, Keane headed onto the post from another dangerous free-kick which, like the first, had been won by Iroegbunam. The midfielder was a driving force for the Blues in the opening 45 minutes and repeatedly surged past opponents to win free-kicks in promising areas.
Had his effectiveness in the final third been as good as it was on the rest of the pitch he could have helped Everton make their initial momentum pay but twice he madethe wrong decisions twice while bursting towards goal.
That inconsistency was symbolic of the Everton side currently at Moyes’ disposal. With so many players unavailable through injury or the Africa Cup of Nations he was forced to rely on a makeshift side again. Iroegbunam partnered 18-year-old Harrison Armstrong in midfield, with James Garner, while Dwight McNeil took the spot of Tyler Dibling on the right – a call that appeared cautious but may have been to counter the threat Wolves posed down the left, the triple threat ofBueno, Hwang Hee-Chan and Mane having been the catalyst for their recent upturn in form.
While Wolves were building a foothold in this game before the equaliser this had been shaping into a positive evening, one in which a young, under-resourced squad battled bravely towards an important win to set up a push for Europe. Instead, this ended as a story of self-destruction. Given the baffling handball that cost Everton against Arsenal, the red card Idrissa Gueye received for his altercation with Keane at Old Trafford, and the mistakes that started then compounded the defeat to Brentford, it was not the first. While Everton got away with it against Manchester United the other incidents proved costly and maybe that will be what ultimately holds them back this season and not injuries, squad depth, bad decisions or missed chances.