Liverpool grabbed a valuable win with 1-0 in their visit to Wolverhampton in a game of the 28th round of the Premier League. Diogo Jota scored the only goal at the end of the first half and upset his former teammates. Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah missed several chances in front of Rui Patricio, who in the last minutes received a blow to the head after a collision with Conor Coady and was taken to hospital.
Liverpool climbed to 6th place in the standings, catching up with city rivals Everton. Liverpool has 46 points – five less than fourth Chelsea. Jurgen Klopp’s team did not concede a goal in the second consecutive game, after keeping a clean sheet against RB Leipzig in the Champions League (2-0). Wolverhampton are also far from their best and have not won any of their previous three games, but they have all been away. In addition, the team has not yet achieved two consecutive victories this season.
Diogo Jota began as a starter for Liverpool against his former team. He took the place of the injured Roberto Firmino and acted in front together with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. Fabinho Jorginho Wijnaldum and Thiago Alcantara were the three in the middle of the field, and the defensive square in front of Alisson Becker included Trent Alexander-Arnold, Nathaniel Phillips, Ozan Kabak and Andrew Robertson.
For Wolves Nuno Espírito Santo continues to fail with finding a replacement for the injured Raul Jimenez and the Wolves are among the teams with the fewest scored goals. The team was ambitious for a rematch of Anfield’s 0-4 defeat three months ago, with Mohamed Salah, Jorginho Wijnaldum and Joel Matip scoring for Liverpool and own goal by Nelson Semedo. In recent seasons, Liverpool has a crushing advantage against this opponent. Before today’s game, The Reds achieved 8 consecutive victories over the Wolves in the Premier League, and their last loss on “ Molineux” dates back to 1981. However, Wolverhampton twice eliminated Merseysiders for the FA Cup – in 2017 and 2019. In addition to Jimenez, Fernando Marcal and Daniel Podence were out of action for the Wolves.
At the top of the attack started Willian Jose, who was looking for his first goal in the Premier League. The Brazilian was supported by Adama Traore and Pedro Neto. Jonathan Castro and Nelson Semedo played on both wings, and in the middle of the field Wolves relied on Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho. Willy Boly, Connor Coady and Romain Saiss have partnered in the defensive line. Leander Dendoncker remained among the reserves. And, spoiler alert, according to onlinecasinosnoop.com the odds were always in their favor.
In the first half Liverpool gradually took over in the middle of the field after Wolves had more control of the ball in the first 15 minutes. In the 22nd minute Mane created problems for the defense, but failed to find a teammate around the penalty spot. In the 32nd minute, Traore broke to the right and crossed to Willian Jose, but Phillips cleared the ball just in front of the Brazilian. A little later, Liverpool missed their best chance before the break. Alexander-Arnold found Mane with a perfect pass, but the Senegalese but header went out of bounds.
In the 42nd minute, Thiago received a yellow card for a foul against Adam Traore, but Ruben Neves shot from the free kick did not hinder Alison. The Portuguese had an even better chance to score in the 45th minute, but did not hit the target. Seconds later, a perfect counter attack by Liverpool ended with a goal. Salah and Mane played with one touch, and Rui Patricio did not react well enough when Jota shot and the ball landed in his net for 1-0.
Wolves began the second-half in similar fashion as they played in the first, positive and attack-minded, and could have pulled a goal back almost immediately when a perfectly-weighted Romain Saiss cross found the head of Conor Coady, but the captain was unable to find the net.
Morgan Gibbs-White entered the fray with just over five minutes of the game remaining, and seconds after coming off the bench, the midfielder was played through on goal, but his heavy touch saw the ball roll to Alisson.
In the closing moments of the game, Liverpool had the ball in the back of the net through Salah, but the assistant’s flag went up as the striker turned the ball home. However, with play continuing under VAR rules, Patricio took a heavy blow to the head, which left the keeper down on the ground with a serious injury and needing to be carried from the pitch and later to the hospital.
The victory is only the second for Liverpool in the Premier League since February. The next test for Klopp’s team is a visit to Arsenal. Wolverhampton remained in the bottom half of the standings and will try to break the negative series of results over the weekend when they host West Ham.
