Liverpool back to winning ways after taming Wolves
A fourth meeting of the calendar year between the sides meant they spent little time trying to figure each other out and an end-to-end opening to the contest took hold.
Liverpool’s Stefan Bajcetic tested Jose Sa in the first minute with a powerful strike before Wolves, perhaps confident from their 3-0 win against the Reds earlier in February, raced down the other end and Alisson tipped behind Joao Moutinho’s low strike from the edge of the area.
The early scare seemed to shake Liverpool into life and the home side soon regained composure, controlled possession and started to create chances. But the first-half witnessed the Reds display a similar lack of ruthlessness that’s seen them fail to score in four of their last six Premier League matches and Harvey Elliot’s flicked header from six yards out flew well wide to further illustrate the host's recent troubles in front of goal.
Wolves struggled to generate any real momentum in the second period and faced difficulty trying to break down a Liverpool side that kept three consecutive league clean sheets.
Ultimately, the solid defence gave the Reds a platform to build upon and Darwin Nunez thought he’d finally found the finishing touch with his third goal in as many matches until VAR disallowed the strike, ruling that Diogo Jota committed a foul in the build up.
That setback did not deter the inevitable Liverpool onslaught however, and Van Dijk’s lashed in from close range from Jota’s low cross before Salah sealed the points by tapping in Konstantinos Tsimikas’ drilled pass across the goalmouth.
It was fitting that the 3-0 hammering at Wolves three weeks ago led to a run of four clean sheets, including three wins to nil, in the league for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side and the Reds will be confident of mounting a charge for the top four with this latest boost.
Wolves’ inconsistency continues to hamper their top-flight security and a three-match winless run leaves Julen Lopetegui’s side just three points off the relegation places.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Diogo Jota (Liverpool)