Wolves 1 Liverpool 2 - Report

Despite having a solid first half, the hosts found themselves behind just before the break when Ibrahima Konate headed home.

Wolves dragged themselves level in the second half through Rayan Ait-Nouri, before immediately giving away a penalty, which Mohamed Salah dispatched.

The hosts were unable to create anything meaningful to get back into the game as they suffered another defeat.

Analysis

Gary O’Neil made two changes to his Wolves side but stuck with the 4-2-3-1 formation.

Yerson Mosquera, who is sidelined with a serious knee injury, was joined on the treatment table by Craig Dawson.

But Wolves were boosted by the return of Toti Gomes, who recovered from a hamstring strain, and was joined by Santi Bueno at the centre of defence.

Amid Wolves’ defensive shortage, academy defender Alfie Pond took his place on the bench.

Arne Slot named his strongest Liverpool side, which included former Wolves attacker Diogo Jota.

Wolves enjoyed a strong and confident opening 10 minutes, with the majority of possession and some decisive passing.

Trent Alexander-Arnold was also given an early booking for kicking the ball away after fouling Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, as Liverpool started slowly.

But the visitors carried a huge threat going forward and a cross from Salah was almost met by Jota, before a low ball from Luis Diaz almost found Salah in another attack moments later.

Goalkeeper Sam Johnstone put Wolves under unnecessary pressure with a poor pass, before Mario Lemina spared his blushes with a smart midfield tackle.

Shortly after, Johnstone passed the ball out directly for a Liverpool corner, to the anger of Molineux. O’Neil was clearly unhappy on the sidelines, as he spoke to goalkeeping coach Neil Cutler.

But the home crowd responded loudly in a more positive manner as Wolves put Liverpool under pressure. A number of crosses and shots caused the visitors problems, as the hosts chased the opening goal.

The Reds then had their own spell of pressure, but Wolves’ defence stood firm.

Johnstone was needed in the 40th minute when Andrew Robertson’s cross found Dominik Szoboszlai, after Toti had lost him, but his shot from five yards out was stopped superbly by the goalkeeper.

In first half injury time, Liverpool took the lead. Jota crossed for Konate, who beat Toti in the air to head into the bottom corner. Johnstone will also felt he could have done better.

After a fairly even half in which Wolves had their moments, they entered the break losing 1-0.

As the teams came out for the second half, Lemina’s terrible error almost handed Liverpool an early second goal.

Playing out from defence, Johnstone played the ball to Lemina, who looked for Toti, but his pass was straight to Salah who shot wide despite Johnstone being out of his goal.

Just seven minutes into the half, Carlos Forbs was introduced for Bellegarde, as Wolves tried to inject some life into the game and their performance.

And life was certainly injected into it when Wolves equalised. Jorgen Strand Larsen did superbly well to steal the ball off Konate and pass to Forbs, who saw his shot fall to Ait-Nouri for a tap-in, to send Molineux wild.

But that positivity was crushed less than two minutes later when Nelson Semedo got the wrong side of Jota and clumsily brought him down as a cross came in, allowing referee Anthony Taylor to point to the spot. Salah sent Johnstone the wrong way with the penalty.

Wolves looked to react quickly as Matheus Cunha released Forbs, who took on Alexander-Arnold and had a shot blocked.

But as the game creeped towards added time, Wolves were flat and lacking any attacking intent, as Liverpool sat back in their shape and defended comfortably.

The crowd and O’Neil were urging the players on, but they offered very little going forward as the game ended on a dull note for Wolves with another defeat.

Key Moments

GOAL 45+2 Konate heads Liverpool in front

GOAL 56 Ait-Nouri levels for Wolves from close range

GOAL 61 Salah dispatches a penalty for Liverpool

Teams

Wolves: Johnstone, Semedo, Bueno (Doyle, 78), Toti, Ait-Nouri, Andre, J.Gomes, Lemina, Bellegarde (Forbs, 52), Cunha, Larsen (Hwang, 69).

Subs not used: Sa, Pond, Doherty, R.Gomes, Sarabia, Guedes.

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson (Gomez, 88), Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai (Jones, 73), Salah, Jota, Diaz (Gakpo, 73).

Subs not used: Kelleher, Quansah, Bradley, Tsimikas, Endo, Chiesa.