Wolves 1 (Hwang 7) Liverpool 3 (Gakpo 55, Robertson 85, Elliott 90+1)
Wolves suffered a late defeat at the hands of Liverpool at Molineux, after the visitors came from behind to cancel out Hee Chan Hwang’s early strike.
Wolves led for the majority of the first half thanks to Hwang’s back post effort, after brilliant work from Pedro Neto, but Liverpool dominated after the break and turned the tide following Cody Gakpo’s equaliser ten minutes into the second half.
To their credit, Wolves held in the game for large spells, despite rarely enjoying a period of possession, but with five minutes remaining Andrew Robertson punished Jose Sa’s poor kick, before Harvey Elliott’s deflected effort snuck in off the post to seal Liverpool’s win.
A quick tempo and lively atmosphere were just the tonic for a dream start at Molineux. Wolves, the better side, took just six minutes to take the lead. Neto picked up the ball in his own half, sized up the Liverpool defence and charged between three red shirts to get to the byline and when he fired a low ball across the face of Alisson’s goal, Hwang was arriving late the squeeze home at the back post.
It was a deserved lead, and Neto fired over soon after with a second goal in Wolves’ sights. Former Wolves man Diogo Jota did shoot off target with Liverpool’s first chance, before the lively Neto again tried his luck, shooting wide of the near post with his unfavoured right foot.
A second goal while on top was, naturally, the desire for Gary O’Neil’s side and twice Craig Dawson threatened from Neto corners, before the Portuguese showed the confidence he was brimming with when he stuck the ball between Joe Gomez’s legs and crossed for Matheus Cunha in the six-box, but the Brazilian misjudged the flight and couldn’t get a clean attempt on goal, allowing Liverpool to clear.
O’Neil will have known the threat Liverpool still possessed though, and the warning signs were there when Gakpo sliced wide from a Roberson cross. An even better opening came late in the half, when Sa fumbled Robertson’s cross and Rayan Ait-Nouri threw himself in the way of Mohamed Salah’s shot, before Sa redeemed himself to keep out Dominik Szoboszlai’s effort with his feet.
Then, in first half injury time, Cunha did brilliantly to work his way to the edge of the Liverpool box, but his curling effort lacked pace and direction to let Liverpool off the hook at just 1-0.
Half-time | Wolves 1-0 Liverpool
Unsurprisingly, the visitors improved after the break and half-time change Luis Diaz headed wide at the near post moments after coming on. With Wolves starting the second period camped in their own half, the Reds were allowed total control of the ball and when Salah found space on the right, he drilled a low cross in for Gakpo to tap into an open goal.
It set the tone for a second period where Liverpool were much improved and Wolves struggled for control, but they were remaining resolute, however, and when Darwin Nunez found space in the Old Gold box, captain Maximilian Kilman shifted across to crucially block.
However, despite their resolute showing, Wolves will have been disappointed with the way they allowed Liverpool to win the game. Sa had confidently claimed the Liverpool corner, but opted to send Wolves on the counter attack and got his kick towards Neto wrong, gifting the ball back to the visitors and once Robertson fed Salah, he continued his run into the box to convert from close range.
It was a tough one to take, and the Merseysiders extended their lead injury time when Salah laid off for Elliott, whose effort took a deflection, which helped squeeze the ball home off the inside of the post to put the seal on Liverpool’s win.
Full-time | Wolves 1-3 Liverpool
Wolves | Sa, Semedo, Dawson, Kilman, Ait-Nouri (H Bueno 65), Lemina (Traore 77), Gomes, Bellegarde (Doyle 77), Hwang (Doherty 60), Neto, Cunha (Silva 60).
Unused subs | Bentley, Toti, Sarabia, Kalajdzic.
Liverpool | Alisson, Gomez, Quansah (Konate 82), Matip, Robertson, Mac Allister (Diaz 45), Jones, Szoboszlai, Salah (Gravenberch 90), Jota (Elliott 56), Gakpo (Nunez 56).
Unused subs | Kelleher, Endo, Tsimikas, Bajcetic.
