Everton and Wolves renew one of English football’s oldest fixtures at the Hill Dickinson on Wednesday night, with the clubs meeting for the 148th time.
The Carabao Cup third-round tie comes almost 138 years after Everton first faced Wolves, with 147 competitive meetings producing 117 victories between them.
Here are seven things to know about the history of the fixture.
1. It started in 1889
The first meeting took place at Molineux on January 26, 1889, during the inaugural Football League season. It was not an afternoon Everton would have been particularly keen to remember, with Wolves winning 5-0.
2. Everton lead the overall head-to-head
Everton have won 65 of the previous 147 meetings in all competitions, with Wolves winning 52 and the other 30 ending in draws.
The majority have come in the league, where Everton lead 62 victories to 48.
3. Wolves denied Everton the FA Cup in 1893
Perhaps the most significant meeting came in the 1893 FA Cup final at Fallowfield in Manchester, when Harry Allen scored the only goal in a 1-0 Wolves victory.
The game was played amid extraordinary overcrowding, with spectators spilling onto the edge of the pitch. Everton subsequently asked for the match to be replayed but were unsuccessful.
4. Everton once put six past Wolves
Everton’s biggest home victory in the fixture came in September 1901, when they beat Wolves 6-1 in the First Division.
Jack Sharp and Jimmy Settle both scored hat-tricks that afternoon. Everton had also beaten Wolves 5-0 at home 11 years earlier.
5. Wolves once inflicted an even heavier defeat
The biggest scoreline between the clubs belongs to Wolves, who beat Everton 7-0 at Molineux in February 1939.
It did Everton little lasting damage. They recovered to finish the 1938/39 season as champions of England, winning the fifth league title in the club’s history.
6. There is nothing between them in the League Cup
Wednesday will be only the third League Cup meeting between Everton and Wolves, with one victory apiece from the previous two.
Wolves levelled that record by beating Moyes’ side 2-0 at Molineux in the third round last season. Twelve months later, Everton have an immediate opportunity to settle that particular score at exactly the same stage of the competition.
7. The recent record has started to turn
Everton went six Premier League meetings without beating Wolves between November 2021 and December 2023, losing five of them.
That sequence ended with a 4-0 victory at Goodison Park in December 2024. Everton then drew 1-1 at Molineux, won 3-2 there last season and drew 1-1 at the Hill Dickinson in January, meaning they are now unbeaten in their past four league meetings with Wolves.
There is plenty of history behind Wednesday’s cup tie, then, including an FA Cup final, some extraordinary scorelines and last season’s League Cup disappointment.
This time Everton have home advantage as they attempt to reach the fourth round.
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