Wolves host Liverpool with both sides looking to get back to winning ways

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Wolverhampton Wanderers will welcome Liverpool to Molineux with both sides looking to put together a positive end-of-season run.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s men will be looking to end the season on a high and will want to begin a positive run of form when they face Liverpool at Molineux. The West Midlands side have had a mixed season where they look to be finishing in a mid-table position and come into this one off the back of a 0-0 draw with Midlands rivals Aston Villa.

For Liverpool, it has been a season to forget. After being runaway champions last season, the Reds have been stifled by injuries as well as not performing to their usual high standards. Jurgen Klopp’s side find themselves in eighth place with just 10 games remaining and will be hoping to put together a run to finish in the top six.

The Merseysiders come into this game off the back of a 1-0 defeat at home to Fulham in the Premier League but they did defeat RB Leipzig to progress into the next round of the Champions League.

Team news

Raul Jimenez will still be missing for the hosts as he recovers from a concussion he suffered earlier on in the season. Winger Daniel Podence is a doubt for the clash with full-back Fernando Marcal ruled out of this fixture.

Liverpool will be without several key players as Joel Matip, Jordan Henderson and Joe Gomez are all expected to still be missing but there may be a return for forward Roberto Firmino who missed the last game against Fulham.

There may well be a role for Diogo Jota from the start as he returned from injury last time out with the centre-forward role likely to suit the Portuguese man.

Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo expressed his admiration for Liverpool and he knows his side are up against a difficult side.

“The quality, the talent, and the achievements that the club and Jurgen have done is amazing and we’re going to face a very talented squad, a very good football team who have a fantastic approach and idea on the game,” Nuno told the club website.

“Not just every team, but everyone has ups and downs. It’s how you react from it and how you get through that which is important, and Liverpool, huge admiration.

“[4-0 loss at] Anfield was a long time ago, so many things have changed since then for both teams, it’s going to be a new game, a new challenge.

“It didn’t teach me anything. We faced a very tough opponent that was better than us in that game. The lessons that we take is from all the opponents and all the matches that we have.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp gave an update on Roberto Firmino’s situation with the striker having missed the last two games through injury.

“We will see. Bobby was not with us, that means he couldn’t play.” Klopp told the club website.

“Now we have a few more days and later on, we have the medical meeting actually after the press conference – sorry! – so they will give me more information about that. We will see, two more days, hopefully.”

Head-to-head

Liverpool have had the better of Wolves over the years, especially the last two, where the Reds have won the last four meetings between the sides in all competitions with Wolves’ last win coming in January 2019 where they ran out 2-1 winners at Molineux. Liverpool won the previous meeting at Anfield 4-0 back in December.

History shows that Liverpool should have the edge to beat Wolves but given their form over the past six months, we may well see an upset.

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