Liverpool vs Wolves – Analysis, Prediction, Team News

As part of our weekend Premier League predictions, we take a look at Wolves’ visit to Anfield. Despite their issues, Liverpool have won 3 of their last 4 home PL games. Another win here? Read on with our Liverpool vs Wolves prediction.

Liverpool vs Wolves Match Preview

Liverpool come into this match on the back of a disappointing 0-0 draw away to Crystal Palace. While other big clubs have failed to win at Selhurst Park this season, notably Manchester United, Klopp’s men will be disappointed with their lack of goal threat and inability to capitalise upon two victories in their previous two Premier League matches. Nevertheless, despite the media circus surrounding the club and utterances of a club in decline, Liverpool are still in the hunt for a Champions League qualification spot, although admittedly they’ll need to show far more consistency.

The reason for that hope is the two games in hand they have over fourth-placed Spurs. While they’re nine points adrift in seventh place, a home victory here would set them up nicely for their derby match against Manchester United – though that fixture is a far tougher proposition than it has been in previous seasons. Form-wise, 17 points from their last 10 Premier League matches is equal to that of Brighton and Newcastle, with Spurs gaining 16 points over the same period. Though Liverpool have experienced a sizeable drop-off from last season, they’re not quite ‘finished’ just yet.

Wolves earned a precious point away to a Fulham side chasing European football, which went some way to making up for the disappointment of their 1-0 home defeat to Bournemouth. Though Wolves are proving to be more defensively solid under new manager Julen Lopetegui, generating enough clear chances to score regularly is still something of a concern. With just three points separating the Midlands side from 18th-placed Everton and 19th-placed Bournemouth, Wolves cannot afford to become complacent despite their recent upturn in form.

They’re clearly not out of the woods yet. The primary reason for this is that the sides around them – West Ham, Leeds, Everton, Bournemouth and Southampton have all won 1 of their last two Premier League matches, and therefore one point in their own last two outings has put some of the pressure back on. With that said, over the course of the last 10 fixtures, Wolves have been the most impressive of the relegation candidates alongside Nottingham Forest who are beginning to suffer again themselves.

Team News

Injuries and Suspensions

Liverpool:

Might Not Play: Arthur, Gomez, Konate, Nunez

Will Not Play: Diaz, Ramsay, Thiago

Wolves:

Might Not Play:

Will Not Play: Chiquinho, Cunha, Hwang, Kalajdzic, Traore

Liverpool vs Wolves Lineups (Predicted)

Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson; Robertson, Matip, Van Dijk, Alexander-Arnold; Fabinho, Bajcetic, Henderson; Salah, Gakpo, Jota

Wolves (4-3-3): Sa; Bueno, Dawson, Kilman, Semedo; Neves, Lemina, Moutinho; Nunes, Sarabia, Jimenez

Liverpool vs Wolves Analysis

Liverpool’s Home Record

While the performances have not been as convincing, Liverpool’s home record is still an enviable one. With 24 points from 11 matches and 7 wins, more often than not Liverpool have found a way to win to keep themselves in the hunt for Champions League football despite their well-publicised issues. Jurgen Klopp’s men average over two goals per game at home (25) while conceding less than one (9). Though they have issues with scoring consistently and have actually blanked in three games (Chelsea, Wolves and Crystal Palace), they can take heart from the fact that the only team Wolves have managed to shut out away from home this season is lowly Bournemouth.

Although Liverpool’s 5-2 home defeat against Real Madrid was a chastening reminder of the scale of the task facing them this season, they also managed to win all three of their home Champions League group fixtures, which is a solid indication that they remain a different proposition at Anfield albeit not as strong as they once were. While scoring goals consistently may continue to prove problematic, three Premier League clean sheets in a row will reassure them that if they can keep it tight they’ll probably be fine here.

Wolves Won the Reverse Fixture

Psychologically, despite the recent showings we’ll tentatively call improvements, this could prove to be a problem. It has to be said that Liverpool were distinctly second best for parts of their 3-0 defeat at Molineux. This was no smash-and-grab raid – Wolves created five shots on target to Liverpool’s one in the first half and enjoyed 49% possession. In the second half, Wolves took the sensible approach of shutting up shop and managed to bag a third as Liverpool chased the game.

Therefore, though Anfield is still a tricky place to obtain a positive result, Wolves will come into this match knowing that they can shut down Liverpool’s attacking threats by being compact and aggressive, and they can hurt a sub-par Liverpool midfield unit in transition as they did repeatedly that afternoon. 10 blocked Liverpool shots isn’t fortunate, it’s a show of defensive resilience. Sometimes, discussion around the modern game shirks terms such as resilience and effort for fear of simplifying the game, but sometimes in football, it really does boil down to those traits when protecting a two-goal lead against more illustrious opponents.

Our Prediction

We’re of the opinion that this will be an extremely tight game. Perhaps not in terms of possession – we expect that Liverpool will be able to top 60% in this metric without too much trouble – but in terms of the actual threat that both teams can generate. While Wolves struggle to create clear chances themselves, under Lopetegui they’re not giving away too much either.

Liverpool aren’t in the kind of form, or indeed in the kind of state, where they can turn up here and win 3 or 4 nil. Of course, anything can happen in football, it’s just not particularly likely that Liverpool will suddenly generate 10 shots on target and tear apart a well-organised Wolves side. Therefore, and we’ve been burned a little predicting Liverpool to beat Crystal Palace on the weekend but that was away from home, we back the home side to get over the line – just about.

Liverpool 1-0 Wolves

Liverpool vs Wolves Betting Tip – Liverpool Odds: