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Briefly, it seemed that Theo Walcott’s first goal since rejoining Southampton would lead to a precious victory. Instead, he spurred on the Lobos, who fought back thanks to Pedro Neto and came close to claiming a victory that seemed unlikely for most of the match. In the end, Southampton was grateful for holding on to the draw and extending their unbeaten streak to seven games.
“I am very proud of my team because it was definitely not easy to drink something,” said Ralph Hasenhüttl. “You could see towards the end that [Wolves] had another team to go. Seven games unbeaten is huge for us, incredible ”.
Before breaking the deadlock at Molineux, Walcott’s last goal for Southampton had been in 2006, when the club was in the Championship and he was a teenage dreamer. Although he has now scored in the top flight for 14 seasons in a row, you can reflect on the fact that he should have scored twice in this match, wasting an excellent opportunity to increase his team’s lead just before Neto canceled it by taking advantage of La net after a shot by Raùl Jiménez bounced off a post.
The Wolves were the kings of the Premier League comeback last season, earning more points after falling behind than anyone else. But this was the first time this season that they had salvaged something from a match in which they conceded first, the previous three ending in losses.
The biggest novelty as far as they are concerned, however, was their training, with Nuno Espírito Santo choosing to start with a four-man defense for the first time.
The change was due in part to the absence of Conor Coady. The captain was hoping to make his 122nd consecutive league appearance and get closer to Phil Parkes’ club record of 127, but was unable to train in preparation after being forced to withdraw from the England squad 11 days ago. In contact with someone who had tested positive for Covid-19, Coady had to watch from the stands. Romain Saïss was self-quarantined at home, having tested positive while on international duty with Morocco.
The visitors made a smoother start when the Wolves’ rear guard looked a bit shaky in their new formation. But the Lobos soon showed their threat at the other end, with Oriol Romeu resorting to a foul to stop Daniel Podence. After João Moutinho slammed the free kick into the wall, Alex McCarthy made fine saves to deflect fierce rebounding shots from Nélson Semedo and Leander Dendoncker.
But Southampton controlled most of the first half, moving briskly and stealthily. Walcott had a chance in the 15th minute after some ingenious work by Stuart Armstrong, but he didn’t catch his shot hard, allowing Rui Patrício to save.
There was great authority in the Southampton game when they forced the Wolves back. They produced a graceful move in the 26th minute, pinging passes before Stuart Armstrong hit the ball from the edge of the area. The wolves attacked zealously when they could, and McCarthy had to react intelligently to launch a Podence header over the bar in the 35th minute.
With Southampton solid, Adama Traoré, back in the starting lineup after matches as a substitute, had little impact in the first period, and Jiménez even less.
Second-half surges tend to be a Wolverhampton specialty. True to their form, they improved after the break. McCarthy parried a powerful shot from Podence in the 52nd minute. So Jiménez should have tried the keeper again, but looked at a header deflected from eight yards.
Southampton then edited the script, taking the lead by taking advantage of the Wolves’ disjointed defense. Armstrong passed Rayan Aï-Nouri down the right and fed Moussa Djenepo, who sent a pass to Che Adams on the right side of the six-yard box. The forward sent the ball across the goal and, with Semedo dozing, Walcott accepted the invitation to score up close.
Walcott should have increased the deficit in the 65th minute, but fired wide after being cleared by Adams. The cost of that failure increased when Jiménez launched a beautiful shot from the edge of the box against the post, and Neto, who had come off the bench moments before, continued to equalize.
