After Manchester City’s draw against Newcastle and the victories of Chelsea and Arsenal against Brighton and Leicester, the mission was clear for Liverpool this Saturday on the Wolverhampton pitch: to win against the red lantern and take the lead of the Premier League. For this trip to Molineux Stadium, Arne Slot was able to count on the return of Alisson in goal. For the rest, the Dutchman has lined up his typical team including a quartet of Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota up front. Opposite, Gary O’Neil lined up three former Ligue 1 players: Rayan Aït-Nouri, as left back, Mario Lemina, in the double pivot in the middle, and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, as left midfielder.
Despite the gap between the two teams in the standings, the Wolves jostled the Reds in the first half hour. Alisson had to work on the attempts of Bellegarde (5th) and Matheus Cunha (22nd). We had to wait for Robertson’s cross and Szoboszlai’s strike, saved magnificently by Sam Johnstone (40th), to see Liverpool wake up. It was ultimately Ibrahima Konaté, who remained in the area following a corner, who allowed the Reds to take a deep breath, placing a powerful header on Jota’s center (45th+2). In the second half, Mohamed Salah failed to take advantage of Lemina’s bad pass to put the ball in the back of the net (50th). Wolverhampton, dominated, found the fault a few minutes later, following a lack of understanding between Konaté and Alisson, from which Larsen and, above all, Aït-Nouri (57th) took advantage. Despite this goal, Liverpool had no doubts and quickly regained the advantage thanks to a penalty from Salah (61st), after a foul by Semedo in the area. Despite the Wolves’ final offensives, Liverpool held on and won (1-2). Thanks to this success, Liverpool are once again leaders of the Premier League. For their part, Wolverhampton occupies last place in the standings and is still looking for a first victory this season.
