Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Liverpool 24/01/20

24 January 2020

Wolverhampton Wanderers will eye the biggest scalp of all when the Premier League (PL) leaders Liverpool arrive at the Molineux Stadium this midweek.

Wolves have pulled off a stunning second-half comeback to beat Southampton 3-2 on the road last weekend and halt a three-game winless PL run (D1, L2). However, they remain by far the ‘slowest starters’ in England’s top tier, having shipped the opening goal in 17 of 23 league fixtures so far (74%). By extension, Nuno Espirito Santo’s men have allowed the opener in eight of 11 PL home games this term, returning eight points from such matches (W1, D5, L2). The Wanderers now face a daunting prospect of improving that infamous record, as they take on a side they’ve failed to score against in each of their last four top-flight home H2Hs (D1, L3). What’s more, the hosts have suffered six consecutive defeats in the PL H2Hs with Liverpool, drawing a blank in five of those clashes, including the last four.

Meanwhile, the visitors’ inexorable march towards their first PL title continued with a comfortable 2-0 home triumph over Manchester United at the weekend, as the Merseyside giants extended an impressive league winning streak to 13 matches. Additionally, each of their last seven victories during that run has been accompanied by a clean sheet, with three of them coming via the identical 1-0 score. The Reds have put together five consecutive PL away triumphs since being held to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in October, with three of those successes arriving via a single-goal margin. Unlike Wolves, Jurgen Klopp’s men almost regularly draw first blood when they are away from home, having opened the scoring in eight of ten PL road trips – winning all of those fixtures.