Liverpool 2 Wolves 0 - Report

The visitors had started the game well and were offering some attacking threat, while remaining compact in defence.

But Semedo’s lunged tackle on Alexis Mac Allister handed him his marching orders after a VAR review and Wolves were down to 10 men.

Liverpool quickly used their advantage when Mac Allister headed home before Jarell Quansah bundled in a second.

Wolves were unable to get back into the game in the second half as they ended the 2023/24 season with a defeat.

Analysis

Gary O’Neil made three changes to the side that lost to Crystal Palace, as he switched back to the 5-2-3 formation.

Dan Bentley, Matt Doherty and Boubacar Traore dropped to the bench as Jose Sa, Santi Bueno and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde came in.

Pedro Neto also made the bench on his return from a serious hamstring injury.

In front of a deafening Anfield crowd, Wolves came close to opening the scoring when Joao Gomes danced into the box and saw his effort charged down by Quansah.

After 15 minutes, Wolves had done well. Although Liverpool had some shots on target, they did not trouble Sa and Wolves were managing the occasion well by defending compactly and offering some attacking threat.

The hosts came close with a scramble in the box before Wolves sprung an effective counter-attack that resulted in Alisson saving a Hwang Hee-chan shot.

But Wolves' good work was undone in the 28th minute when Semedo received a straight red card for a nasty challenge on Mac Allister after he overran the ball. Referee Chris Kavanagh originally gave a yellow card before a VAR check instructed him to look at the monitor and a red card was given.

Just six minutes after going down to 10 men, Wolves went behind. A good cross from Harvey Elliott was met by Mac Allister, who made a run across Santi Bueno to head home.

Wataru Endo then forced Sa into a good save, which forced a corner that Liverpool took full advantage of.

The ball was swung in to Mohamed Salah at the back post who knocked it back towards goal, allowing Quansah to beat Gomes to it and tap home.

Salah then made a mess of a three on one situation, as Wolves were looking to survive.

O’Neil and his players were screaming for a penalty when Matheus Cunha went down in the box under a challenge from Virgil Van Dijk, but nothing was given, as the half-time whistle was blown.

As the teams came out for the second half, Mac Allister had the ball in the back of the net but was flagged offside.

Somehow the hosts did not score a third after a terrible Toti Gomes back pass saw Cody Gakpo beat Sa to the ball and cross low for Luis Diaz, who lifted his shot onto the crossbar and it did not cross the line.

Gakpo was then played in but saw his effort denied by a strong Sa save.

Wolves should have scored when Cunha broke forward and played in Rayan Ait-Nouri, who only had Alisson to beat. However, he passed it back to Cunha who should have scored, but made a mess of it.

After 78 minutes, Neto finally made his return from his second serious hamstring injury of the season when he replaced Cunha - to the delight of the travelling supporters.

But the forward was playing up front on his own and was isolated with very little support from his team-mates, as the game began to fizzle out.

Van Dijk took aim from distance as Liverpool looked to add a third, but the hosts had also taken their tempo down a notch and were seeing the game out easily.

Wolves did come close when Neto won a free-kick on the edge of the box and then forced Alisson into a save with his effort.

Doherty then headed home but was flagged offside. It was a tight call but a VAR check did not overturn it.

As Liverpool’s party and celebration of Jurgen Klopp’s time in charge began at the final whistle, Wolves were condemned to defeat.

It meant O’Neil’s side ended their season with one win in 11 games, with eight losses.

Key Moments

RED CARD 28 Semedo is sent off for a bad challenge on Mac Allister.

GOAL 34 Liverpool take the lead as Mac Allister heads home.

GOAL 40 Quansah tapped home to double the reds’ advantage.

Teams

Wolves: Sa, Semedo, S.Bueno (Doyle, 85), Kilman, Toti, Ait-Nouri (H.Bueno, 78), Lemina, Gomes, Bellegarde (Traore, 62), Hwang (Doherty, 62), Cunha (Neto, 78).

Subs not used: Bentley, Gonzalez, Chirewa, Fraser.

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold (Bradley, 70), Quansah, Van Dijk, Robertson, Endo, Mac Allister (Gravenberch, 70), Elliott (Szoboszlai, 80), Salah, Gakpo (Jones, 80), Diaz (Nunez, 70).

Subs not used: Kelleher, Gomez, Konate, Jota.