Premier League 2024-25: Young becomes oldest scorer for Everton in victory over Wolves, Villa beats Brentford to end winless streak

Premier League 2024-25: Young becomes oldest scorer for Everton in victory over Wolves, Villa beats Brentford to end winless streak

Ashley Young became Everton’s oldest ever goalscorer and Craig Dawson twice put the ball into his own net as the Merseyside club thumped Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-0 in the Premier League at Goodison Park on Wednesday.

At the age of 39 and 148 days, right back Young also became the oldest player to convert a free kick in the Premier League with a sumptuous effort for what was his 50th goal in the English top flight.

Orel Mangala found the back of the net for the first time in Everton colours before the unfortunate Dawson scored a brace of own goals to compound the woes of Wolves, who has now conceded 36 times in 14 games this season, comfortably the most in the division.

Everton moved up to 15th place in the table with 14 points from as many matches and Wolves slipped to second bottom with nine points as the pressure grows on manager Gary O’Neil.

The home side had two goals disallowed and missed several other chances as the visitor’s defence buckled under the pressure and showed why it is in the relegation zone.

Everton hit the front when Young curled a 25-yard free kick into the bottom right corner of the goal, though Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa was right to question the effectiveness of his wall.

The host thought it had doubled lead inside 16 minutes as Dwight McNeil’s free kick was headed into the net by James Tarkowski, but the effort was disallowed following a VAR check when Mangala was adjudged to have impeded Mario Lemina.

Jordan Pickford made a good save low to his left to deny Wolves’ Jorgen Strand Larsen inside the six-yard box, before the latter missed a golden opportunity when he was alone 10 yards from goal but failed to connect with an inviting cross.

Everton doubled its advantage just past the half-hour mark as Vitaliy Mykolenko’s shot was blocked and Mangala crashed home the loose ball in the box.

The home side added a third early in the second period when McNeil’s corner was bundled into his own net by Dawson under pressure from Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Wolves came close to pulling a goal back as Matt Doherty’s header came back off the post, but Everton was not done yet, despite another disallowed effort by Iliman Ndiaye.

Dawson stretched to keep out a deep free kick from McNeil as Calvert-Lewin applied pressure again, but only succeeded in steering the ball past Sa. 

Aston Villa survived a jittery second half to end an eight-match winless streak with a 3-1 home win over Brentford.

Villa sped into a 3-0 halftime lead but after Mikkel Damsgaard pulled one back early in the second half for Brentford, looked nervy and under pressure and will be relieved its visitor did not add any more goals.

Villa had raced into a comprehensive lead with three goals in a 13-minute burst after Morgan Rogers got its opener in the 21st minute.

An Ollie Watkins penalty and a volleyed effort from fullback Matty Cash added to the tally at Villa Park and saw the host enjoy a comfortable lead at the interval.

After finishing fourth last season, Villa had slipped into the bottom half of the table after its weekend loss at Chelsea but Wednesday’s success moved it up to seventh in the standings, ahead of Brentford which slipped to ninth.

Rogers hit a lofted effort into the net at the end of a surging run and a one-two with Watkins to open the scoring.

The home side was awarded a penalty four minutes later when Ethan Pinnock clipped Watkins from behind and the England international got up off the turf to convert the spotkick.

His low shot just evaded Mark Flekken in the Brentford goal as the keeper went the right way and got a touch on the ball but it was not strong enough to keep it out.

Rogers’ cross in the 34th minute was missed by Watkins, who was offside and might have disturbed the goalkeeper’s line of sight, allowing Cash to thunder in the third with a rasping finish from the right. VAR chose not to intervene and the goal was allowed to stand.

Brentford got its goal in the 54th minute as Damsgaard cut inside from the back post to belt the ball in from close range after Yoane Wissa flicked on Bryan Mbeumo’s cross.

Substitute Igor Thiago, working his way back from the knee injury that kept him out of the early part of the season, had a good chance for a second for Brentford in the 72nd minute but got underneath his shot and put it over the bar.

The result continued Brentford’s poor away form, with Thomas Frank’s side having earned one point from seven matches on the road, but the Bees remain high on entertainment value with a total of 52 goals in their 14 league games this season – 27 for and 26 against.