Premier League: Liverpool Ready to Fight to the Finish

Liverpool vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Liverpool’s Premier League title hopes have come down to the last day of the season. The Reds host Wolves at Anfield in a match they simply must win. At the same time, they need Aston Villa to do them a massive favour and keep Manchester City from winning in order to claim the title.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have needed to come from behind in each of their last three Premier League matches as their gruelling quadruple quest has taken its toll on the squad.

Can struggling Wolves somehow play spoiler at Anfield and ruin the Reds’ already slim chance of reclaiming the Premier League crown?

Talking Points

Liverpool fighting to the finish

For the second straight game, Liverpool rallied from an early deficit to grab a crucial 2-1 win to keep their faint Premier League 2022 odds of winning the title alive.

Liverpool went down after just 13 minutes away to Southampton in midweek. But Takumi Minamino, who was handed a surprise start with Mohamed Salah out, equalised on 27 minutes. And for the second game in a row, centre-back Joel Matip scored a crucial goal to give the Reds all three points.

As expected, Jurgen Klopp made a host of changes to the side that played in the FA Cup final win over Chelsea. Salah, Fabinho, and Virgil van Dijk all missed out due to injury, while Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Thiago, and Sadio Mane were all rested. But once again, Liverpool’s impressive squad depth came to the rescue.

Both Salah and van Dijk are certain to play in Liverpool’s Champions League final against Real Madrid at the end of May according to Klopp, but they could return to the side as soon as this weekend against Wolves.

But as the Southampton match showed, neither is necessarily required to get the win Liverpool need to stand any chance of reclaiming the title. As Klopp put it, the Reds have the ‘Ferraris’ on the bench with the likes of Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino, Minamino, and Divock Origi, so they should have more than enough attacking firepower to throw at Wolves.

Moreover, they have the massive Anfield home advantage. Liverpool have the best home record in the Premier League this season. They are unbeaten in 18 games (14 wins, 4 draws) with 46 goals scored and just eight goals conceded.

Wolves on a woeful end-of-season slump

Outside of the bottom two, Liverpool could not have asked for a better opponent in their must-win last game than Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Wolves’ recent Premier League 2022 results have been simply atrocious; they’ve picked up just two points over the last six games – only relegated sides Norwich and Watford have gotten fewer points – while scoring just four goals and conceding 13.

Bruno Lage was lauded for the job he did early in the season, but whether it’s been regression to the mean or a simple lack of motivation toward the tail-end of the year, his Wolves side has fallen off a cliff in the last few weeks.

The sheer lack of consistent goals from their strikers has also been a major issue. Raul Jimenez – the club’s top scorer with six goals – has found the net just once in his last 12 league outings, while Hwang Hee-Chan hasn’t scored since late February.

Wolves’ away form, which was a major part of their early success, has since soured. They have won just one of their last six away games, with four defeats. Although, they did come from two goals down with 11 minutes to go to hold Chelsea to a 2-2 draw in their most recent away match.

History

Liverpool have simply dominated Wolves in the Premier League. The Reds hold a massive 12-1 advantage in terms of wins and are on a run of five straight wins against Wolves.

Although, Wolves have kept things relatively competitive in their last two meetings, losing only 1-0 on both occasions. Liverpool needed a 90th-minute winner from Divock Origi to win their first meeting of the season at Molineux.

Betting Tip

SBOTOP odds have Liverpool priced as massive 1.18 favourites to win at Anfield, while Wolves are astronomical 17.00 underdogs to pull off an upset. A draw is 6.40.

While Liverpool have looked quite leggy in recent games, the Anfield crowd should give them the energy they need to overcome a Wolves side that has been ready for summer vacation for several weeks now.

Look for Liverpool to get the early jump on Wolves en route to a quite comfortable win in their home and season finale.

 

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