The details
Venue – Anfield, Liverpool
Referee – Anthony Taylor
Date & Time – Sunday, December 29th @ 16:30
Current Odds – Liverpool 2/7, Draw 9/2, Wolves 10/1
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13 points clear at the top of the Premier League with a game in hand. This Jurgen Klopp creation is one hell of a red monster. Take them on at your peril. The Reds kept the pedal to the floor at Leicester on Boxing Day. Same again, please, lads.
Form
Liverpool Form
Played 18, won 17, drew 1, lost 0. Liverpool have 52 points from a possible 54 this season. What we are seeing is unprecedented. Since drawing at Old Trafford in October, Liverpool have gone on to win another 9 consecutive Premier League games, stretching that lead at the top of the table.
In that time, Klopp’s men have also qualified for the last sixteen of the Champions League and been crowned Club World Cup champions after further success in Qatar.
Wolves Form
Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolves side helped Liverpool hugely on Friday night with a fantastic come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Manchester City.
Wolves have only lost once in their last 12 outings in all competitions. After a tough start to the season, the team has really clicked into form in recent months.
The fixture list hasn’t been kind to Wolves, however. They travel to Anfield less than 48 hours after their energy-draining victory over Manchester City. Is it safe to start anyone who played the full 90 minutes against City? Nuno has some choices to make.
Team news
Liverpool Team News
Liverpool will be without Joel Matip, Dejan Lovren, Fabinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Nathaniel Clyne and Rhian Brewster.
Luckily for Klopp, Joe Gomez has been hitting top performance levels lately so he may soon be back to being the first-choice central-defensive partner for Virgil van Dijk.
Trent Alexander-Arnold had the game of his life at Leicester City on Thursday so it’s doubtful he will be rested. Andrew Robertson will continue on the left.
In midfield, Jordan Henderson left the game late after suffering a cut to the shin but he is reported to be fully fit. I still think Henderson will start the Wolves game on the bench. Gini Wijnaldum, James Milner and Naby Keita are likely to be in Liverpool’s midfield trio on Sunday.
I think Klopp will go full strength in attack with Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané all starting.
Wolves Team News
Morgan Gibbs-White and Willy Boly are the two absentees from the Wolves squad. Yet, as mentioned above, it’s unclear just how ‘full-strength’ Wolves can go at Anfield. They went full-throttle in their 3-2 win over Manchester City on Friday night.
Nuno sets his Wolves side out in a 3-4-3 but that’s more likely to be a 5-2-3 formation against Liverpool at Anfield.
Predicted lineups
Liverpool XI (4-3-3) – Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Milner, Keita; Salah, Firmino, Mané
Wolves XI (3-4-3) – Patricio; Dendoncker, Coady, Saiss; Doherty, Neves, Moutinho, Jonny; Traore, Jimenez, Jota
When they last met
Liverpool beat Wolves 2-0 at Anfield on the final day of the 2018/19 season with two goals from the brilliant Sadio Mané.
Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk were the scorers when The Reds won by the same scoreline at Molineux last December.
Wolves did manage to knock Liverpool out of the FA Cup, winning 2-1 at home against a second-string Reds side back in January. Raul Jimenez and Ruben Neves scored the goals for Wolves that day while Divock Origi banged one in for Liverpool.
Prediction
LIVERPOOL 2 – 0 WOLVES
This is one case where the fixture schedule has actually been kind to The Reds. Wolves will be drained and Liverpool have had an extra day’s rest while also knowing they have four days before facing Sheffield United at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool know they must keep winning, maintaining that lead at the top. The sooner they can bat away the challenge of Leicester and Manchester City the better. You can bet they want the title sewn up before heading to play Pep Guardiola’s side at the Etihad in early April.
