FA Cup: Wolves v Liverpool preview - Wounded Reds could be a bigger danger, warns Julen Lopetegui

The Reds’ 3-0 loss to Brighton at the weekend was the latest poor result for Jurgen Klopp’s side, who sit ninth in the Premier League table.

A second string Wolves side also should have won the first third-round tie at Anfield, with a VAR controversy denying a winning goal, but Lopetegui is still expecting a difficult test tonight.

He said: “They are a very good team, a fantastic team – and maybe they’ll be more dangerous because they want to win.

“Liverpool are always dangerous. We are talking about one of the best teams in the world, not only in England.

“We are talking about the quality of the players and the quality of the coach in Jurgen Klopp. It’s going to be a very hard game.

“For us, each competition that we play is important. We want to continue in all of them. Now we are out, unfortunately, of the Carabao Cup, but we had a good match against a very dangerous team.

“Now, we have the chance to go ahead in the FA Cup. Of course we want that a lot and we are going to fight and try to beat a fantastic team in Liverpool.”

Refereeing decisions have been a major talking point for Wolves in the last two weeks, starting with Toti Gomes’ disallowed winner at Anfield that led to tonight’s replay.

Wolves wrote to the FA and PGMOL after that incident, before chief refereeing officer Howard Webb visited Compton to have a discussion with Lopetegui.

When asked about referees, speaking ahead of a game that should not be taking place if VAR had made the right call, Lopetegui said: “I prefer to not talk about the referees.

“The referee’s job is very hard in all countries, in England, Spain, France or Germany because they have to take a decision and it’s not easy. They have VAR to help them in some situations and we have to help them too.

“We all have an interest to win, and it’s not easy, but I have a big respect for the job and have a high confidence in their decisions.”

Tonight’s game will be Wolves’ sixth in just 18 days after a hectic period of midweek and weekend clashes.

The head coach has revealed he will need to assess his players this morning before the fixture to determine who is fit to play, as they recover from Saturday’s league win over relegation rivals West Ham.

Diego Costa, who has been injured since the draw with Villa on January 4, is expected to make his return and be involved in the squad, while Raul Jimenez will be hoping for a start.

“Raul is improving step by step and is playing more, with more minutes, which is good for him and good for the team,” Lopetegui added.

“In the same way, Diego is going to be ready so we have to choose.”

New signing Mario Lemina will be unavailable for the fixture as he was not registered for the first third round game against Liverpool.

Opposition view

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admits his under-performing side will have to go back to basics in order to solve their current problems.

A sixth Premier League defeat of the season at Brighton has left the Reds 10 points adrift of the top four but, with tonight’s FA Cup replay, there is little time to correct the issues.

But Klopp said the thing they had to be was more difficult to beat.

“The issues we had in that game were obvious,” he said. “In the end, these are football problems and you solve them with football and to play better football than we did at Brighton should not be too difficult. We have to be more compact. The pitch looks too big when we are defending. You have to go back to basics and from there you can make steps.

“We have to do some things slightly different and some things the same. All the success in football starts with solid defending and that’s what we have to do again.”

With the third-round replay coming just three days after their trip to the south coast, Klopp will make changes to his team.

It could be a blessing in disguise as they have looked lethargic in recent weeks.

“We need fresh legs. The easy thing for me is to sit here and tell the boys ‘At Brighton you put us in the situation so let’s see how you can get us out of it’,” said Klopp.

“But that would mean I am out of responsibility (not being responsible) and I just can’t.”

Darwin Nunez is edging closer to fitness after a minor muscle injury but remains a doubt for the Wolves game, while fellow forward Roberto Firmino is still not fit.

Klopp’s changes will probably see the likes of Naby Keita, James Milner and Stefan Bajcetic freshen up midfield.