A rare troubled week for Arne Slot ended in the relief of victory and the restoration of his side’s seven‑point lead at the top of the Premier League, yet concern lingers. Liverpool were given a serious fright by the relegation-threatened Wolves as nerves gripped Anfield for the first time this season. A potentially defining period awaits.
Luis Díaz and Mohamed Salah, with his 28th goal of the season, gave Liverpool a commanding interval lead as they sought to shake off the lingering effects of the Merseyside derby. Vítor Pereira’s half-time rollicking and changes to the Wolves side ensured they returned. Matheus Cunha reduced the arrears with a stunning strike and Slot’s team were suddenly plagued by doubt. Liverpool did not have a single attempt on José Sá’s goal in the second half. It was the first time on record that Liverpool had failed to have a shot in a half of football in a Premier League game at Anfield.
Slot praised his players’ mentality after stoppage time passed without trauma, unlike at Goodison Park, but with trips to Aston Villa and Manchester City to come in the next week, he knows improvement is required. Liverpool have been serene for much of Slot’s debut season but this ranked as a crucial win from a scrappy performance. The type that wins titles. The leaders were indebted to the contributions of Jarell Quansah and Wataru Endo – on as substitutes – for keeping Wolves’ second-half recovery at bay.
The visitors nursed an understandable grievance over the referee Simon Hooper’s display in the first half – both Pereira and Matt Doherty were booked for dissent – but Wolves were culpable for the mess they found themselves in at half-time. “I saw two different teams today,” Pereira said. “The first team I didn’t recognise because we didn’t play in our way in the first half, didn’t force mistakes and didn’t press. But the mentality changed in the second half and everything changed.”
Liverpool were erratic in possession and struggled to find their rhythm from the outset yet pounced the first time Wolves’ five-man defence was out of shape. The visitors were caught by a devastating counterattack following their first genuine attack of note. Diogo Jota turned André and Doherty to release Díaz down the left. Díaz centred to Salah, whose first-time return looped off Toti and dropped into the six‑yard box. Díaz, having continued his run into the area, reacted more sharply than Sá and bundled the ball past the goalkeeper with his chest.
A similar move almost resulted in a second Liverpool goal for Jota but Emmanuel Agbadou and Toti threw themselves in the way of the striker’s shot, the former taking an accidental blow to the head in the process. Sá also denied Jota with a near‑post save after Dominik Szoboszlai, Díaz and Andy Robertson combined well to open up the Wolves’ right flank yet again. It was that route that produced the award of a clear but needless penalty to Liverpool.
Agbadou completely missed an attempted clearance from Alexis Mac Allister’s hopeful ball down the left. The Wolves central defender had been nudged in the back by Díaz, who ran through and took a heavy first touch before being clipped by Sá. The Wolves keeper overcommitted when there was little need to. Díaz’s touch was going out of play. VAR checked Díaz’s contact with Agbadou before confirming Hooper’s decision to award the spot-kick. Salah floated his 50th Liverpool penalty down the centre of Sá’s goal for his 42nd successful conversion.
Wolves had played enterprising football at times, with Cunha and Pablo Sarabia to the fore. But they rarely had a presence in the Liverpool penalty area to capitalise. That all changed when Pereira introduced Marshall Munetsi and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde in a double half-time substitution. Anfield was gradually reduced to a panic-stricken state.
Munetsi could have scored five minutes into his Premier League debut when Bellegarde’s neat flick put him one-on-one with Alisson. Slot had replaced Ibrahima Konaté with Quansah at the break because the France international was in danger of collecting a second yellow card. Hooper gave only a free-kick when Konaté collided with Cunha as Wolves’ players demanded his dismissal. Liverpool’s new central defence was immediately exposed after the restart. Their goalkeeper saved them, however, racing out to block Munetsi’s shot with his face.
Salah had a fine goal disallowed for offside before Liverpool were awarded a second penalty when Jota was sent tumbling by Agbadou’s lunge. Or so it appeared to the naked eye. VAR found the defender had made no contact with Jota, who cut inside the challenge and dived. Hooper overturned his initial penalty award after being sent to the pitch-side monitor but did not book Jota.
Cunha increased the anxiety inside Anfield with a superb finish from 22 yards. Receiving another smart flick from Bellegarde, the Wolves No 10 turned away from Ryan Gravenberch and curled an unstoppable shot into the right-hand corner of Alisson’s net. Wolves were close to equalising when Tommy Doyle, on as a substitute, crossed low for Munetsi, only for Quansah to intervene with a vital tackle in front of his own goal.
“We were clearly relieved at the end,” Slot said. “Especially after what happened on Wednesday.”
