PREVIEW: Wolves travel to Everton looking to capitalise on first win of the season | OneFootball

The Hill Dickinson Stadium will hold host to Everton and Wolves on Wednesday evening, with the visitors aiming to continue a surprisingly strong start to 2026.

There was a rare outpouring of relief and joy as the full-time whistle blew at Molineux on Saturday, as Rob Edwards’ side claimed their first victory of the season in emphatic fashion, thumping West Ham 3-0 to double their points tally from three to six. Off the back of that fantastic result, they travel to Everton for what will likely be a tougher test.

The hosts have been in poor form as of late and David Moyes seems yet to find a response from his side which has led to the Toffees sinking down the table to 13th. With just one victory in five, they succumbed to another heavy defeat at home on Sunday after an Igor Thiago hat-trick help Brentford run out 4-2 winners. This, coupled with a 4-1 defeat at home to Newcastle and a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Spurs, hasn’t quite bolstered the idea of the Hill Dickinson Stadium being a fortress.

Whether its a case of new ground nerves, or the heavy mound of pressure sides such as Everton feel to attack teams at home that is affecting the side, but they have struggled for form since moving from Goodison Park in the summer, winning only four matches all season. In a slightly positive note for the Toffees, striker Beto finally broke his goalscoring duck against the Bees. The Guinea-Bissau striker scored his second goal of the season and his first since August, coincidentally, against Wolves.

The stats do make for grim reading with regard to a Wolves side who, until the turn of the year, had accumulated only two points in the Premier League this season. However, that doesn’t tell the full story. Despite being less in a relegation battle and more a fight to beat Derby’s record low tally of 11 points, Wolves have been improving under Edwards and will count themselves unlucky to come away from Arsenal and Liverpool empty-handed. However they were rewarded at Old Trafford with a well-earned point and achieved their first victory of the season last time out against West Ham.

Overall though, this season has been a slog to say the least. Wolves’ record of 0.3 points per game is the worst in Premier League history at the New Year and their 16 defeats so far is over half of the record of 30 defeats Southampton encored in their doomed season last year.

Without dwelling on the negatives too much, as Wolves and their fans have had plenty of that this season, there are scraps of hope to be found in recent weeks, both in the forms of stronger performances against tough opposition and the revelation of young forward Mateus Mané. The 18-year old has played out his skin this season and has been the main focal point during a major drop off in form from starting striker Jørgen Strand Larsen. If Mané can keep up his strong performances he can cement himself as one of the few positives amid a very negative season.

Everton have been hit hard by a multitude of different factors in recent weeks. A slew of injuries coupled with absentees from the Africa Cup of Nations has led to Moyes being left with a depleted squad throughout the tricky winter schedule.

Veteran right back Seamus Coleman is out with a hamstring injury and the 39-year-old will miss at least the Wolves game and more than likely the FA Cup clash against Sunderland. He will be joined in the treatment room once again by fellow defender Jarrad Branthwaite, who Moyes did confirm is closer to returning to the fray, but this busy run of fixtures may provide too much for the Englishman. Tied top scorer Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall may be fit enough to return to the bench against Wolves but Moyes appears to be keeping his cards close to his chest in terms of a timeline for the former Chelsea man’s return. Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye are on international duty at AFCON and winger Carlos Alcaraz is also out with an unspecified issue.

As for Wolves, Edwards will continue to be without midfielder Rodrigo Gomes however he is close to a return and could make the bench for this one. Elsewhere, Marshall Munetsi is back on grass but still far away from a first team return whilst Toti Gomes and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde both still remain out. Emmanuel Agbadou is away at AFCON with Ivory Coast.

The game will kick off at 19:30 GMT on Wednesday January 7th, and will be available to watch on Sky Sports in the UK.

Predicted line-ups