Charly Alcaraz Secures Everton Victory Over Wolves in Carabao Cup

Charly Alcaraz stepped off the bench and, within three minutes, ripped the Carabao Cup tie away from Wolves.

The Everton substitute lashed in an 80th-minute winner at Goodison Park to seal a 1-0 victory and keep the club’s unbeaten start to the season intact. One touch to set, one swing of the right boot, a vicious curling strike from inside the area – and a tight, tense night finally had its breakthrough.

For Alcaraz, it was a rare and overdue moment. Just his second goal for Everton, and his first since he scored in this same competition 13 months ago. For the home crowd, it was a release. For Wolves, heavily rotated and hanging on, it was punishment for a night spent mostly on the back foot.

Everton grind it out against rotated Wolves

Wolves arrived with nine changes from the side that beat Sheffield United at Bramall Lane in the league, and it showed. The Championship visitors struggled to stitch together any real rhythm, yet they almost turned it into the kind of dogged cup performance that irritates Premier League crowds.

Raul Jimenez, the match-winner at the weekend, was handed a start but his evening ended early and worryingly. He limped off midway through the first half, cutting a frustrated figure as he headed down the tunnel, and with him went much of Wolves’ attacking threat.

Everton controlled territory and tempo, if not the scoreline. They pushed, probed and recycled the ball, but clear chances were scarce until first-half stoppage time, when the game suddenly burst into life.

Virginia shines against his old club

On his Wolves debut, Joao Virginia – once of this parish – produced the kind of performance that makes old employers shift uneasily in their seats.

Right on the stroke of half-time, Thierno Barry rose to meet a cross with a firm close-range header. It looked in. Virginia flung himself across goal and clawed it away with a superb reflex stop, the sort of save that instantly silences a stadium.

He wasn’t finished. Early in the second half, Wolves finally mustered their first shot on target, Adam Armstrong testing Jordan Pickford with a low effort. Pickford got down sharply, a reminder that the England goalkeeper was still alert despite long stretches with little to do.

The game then settled into a familiar pattern: Everton pressing, Wolves retreating, Virginia repelling. When Brennan Johnson came off the bench and burst through, the keeper again stood tall, blocking the effort and briefly turning the night into his personal showcase.

But the pressure kept building. The clock ticked. Goodison grew impatient.

Alcaraz breaks the deadlock

Then came the change that decided it. Alcaraz entered, and the tempo shifted. Everton found an extra yard, an extra pass, an extra belief.

The ball fell to him inside the box, just enough space to work with. One quick movement, a powerful, arcing strike, and Virginia was finally beaten. The net bulged, the Gwladys Street erupted, and the tie was settled in an instant.

In the stands, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney – both Everton supporters – celebrated the goal with everyone else, watching David Moyes’ side edge one step closer to ending a trophy drought stretching back to 1995.

The performance was not flawless. It did not need to be. The cup run is alive, the unbeaten record remains, and a squad still searching for silverware has another reason to believe this might finally be the season something changes.