‘We’re all going on a European tour’ has been sung by Albion fans for a while now but on a sunny Molineux Saturday ‘We’re top of the league’ was added to their repertoire after their team demolished Wolves.
Kaoru Mitoma scored what will be one of the best individual goals of the season to put us in front before three in nine minutes after the break flattened the hosts as Solly March’s double sandwiched Pervis Estupinan’s strike. England manager Gareth Southgate, watching from the directors' box, would have been very impressed.
Hee Chan Hwang did get one back but Wolves finished with ten men after Matheus Nunes picked up a second yellow in stoppage time.
Another memorable away day for Albion, whose strength in depth was much in evidence. Roberto De Zerbi rotated three players from the 4-1 win against Luton and one of the new faces Julio Enciso created both goals for March.
The first half was all about Mitoma’s brilliant 17th-minute goal. He collected possession 15 yards inside Wolves’ territory and breezed past two defenders before easing inside a third and sliding a right-foot shot past Jose Sa into the far corner.
Wolves would have been level but for an instinctive stop with his right foot by Jason Steele to deny Fabio Silva and Rayan Ait-Nouri lifted a close-range shot over but every time Albion attacked the Wolves’ defence they looked vulnerable.
Less than a minute into the second half it was 2-0. March played a great ball down the channel for Danny Welbeck. His powerful shot was parried by Sa to Mitoma who cleverly laid it into Estupian whose low left-footer found the corner.
Billy Gilmour, a quietly effective presence in midfield, created the third on 51 minutes with a long ball down the left. Enciso was in acres of space and March didn’t have to break stride as he arrived to meet the cross and slam it into the top corner.
Wolves were sliced open again for the fourth, this time down the right. Enciso picked out March’s run and he opened up his body to side-foot past Sa off the inside of the post. Solly has now scored ten goals in 29 games under De Zerbi, the most by any player under the Italian.
The home fans who decided at that point to head for home missed a smartly taken goal by substitute Hwang after 61 minutes but Wolves never threatened a comeback and Nunes’ red at the end made their afternoon even worse.
All that was left was for 3,000 or so Albion fans in the Billy Wright Stand to acclaim another superb performance.
Albion: Steele, Milner (Veltman 57), Webster, Dunk, Estupinan, Gilmour, Gross (Dahoud 81), March, Mitoma (Lallana 81), Enciso (Ferguson 67), Welbeck (Pedro 57).
Subs not used: Verbruggen, Igor, Adingra, van Hecke.