Late goal gives Lopetegui winning league start with Wolves

Dec 26, 2022, 06:48 pm

LIVERPOOL, England -- — Wolverhampton manager Julen Lopetegui marked his Premier League debut with a dramatic stoppage-time 2-1 win at Goodison Park on Monday which ramped up the pressure on Everton coach Frank Lampard.

A match low on quality appeared to be drifting toward a draw which would have been little use to either struggling side only for substitute Rayan Ait-Nouri to score on the counterattack in the fifth minute of added time.

The Frenchman scored late in the midweek win in the English League Cup over fourth-tier Gillingham but his close-range finish to clinch Wolves’ first away win since their visit here in March could prove far more pivotal.

It secured only Wolves’ third league victory of the season but it succeeded in lifting his side off the bottom of the table and within just a point of 17th-place Everton.

Lampard’s side has now lost six of the last eight and a lack of firepower — Yerry Mina’s seventh-minute goal was only its 12th in 16 league games — proved costly again as Daniel Podence scored a well-worked set-piece equalizer in the 22nd minute.

Everton's players left the field at halftime to sporadic boos but the dissent was much louder at the final whistle.

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