Goals from Mohamed Salah, Georginio Wijnaldum, Joel Matip and an own goal by Nelson Semedo saw champions Liverpool defeat Wolverhampton Wanderers by four unreplied goals under the lights at Anfield in Sunday’s late kick-off.
Wolves were without their talisman Raul Jimenez who fractured his skull in their last game against Arsenal as the Reds won in grand style to welcome back fans at Anfield for the first time since March, also since they ended a 30-year wait for England’s top-flight title.
Former Red, Conor Coady brought himself some unwanted attention when he fluffed his lines with a misjudged control to free up Salah for Liverpool’s first before Video Assistant Referee (VAR) proved he had gone down without contact when Referee Craig Pawson initially penalized Sadio Mane to have fouled the Scouser.
Watch the highlights of the match below
The game also marked a Premier League debut for young Reds shot-stopper, Caoimhin Kelleher – in for the injured Alisson Becker – who was impressive in goal for Jurgen Klopp’s men as he kept his second clean sheet in four days, following his first on Wednesday against Ajax in the Champions League.
The win means Liverpool go back level on points with Tottenham, who had earlier defeated Arsenal in the North London derby.
Wolves sit 10th on the log, two points off Manchester United who are fifth with a game in hand.
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Manager Reactions
Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool: “The game, the atmosphere, it was so nice. I had goosebumps. [The fans] started ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ – really nice. I never knew it could feel that good.
“This started in February and we were waiting to get normality back. Normality is good – I don’t think we appreciated it as much. It was very, very touching.
“Wolves couldn’t get into the game tonight and I think that was because of the way my boys played. It was a really, good high-level performance.”
Nuno Espirito Santo, Wolves: “It was definitely a tough night. We could have done many, many things differently – before the game, during the game.
“We didn’t have enough of the ball. We didn’t deal well with the pressing of Liverpool. We were organised until the moment of the first goal.
“We didn’t perform well, Liverpool performed better than us. That is a reflection of the performance on the pitch. It was not a good performance. We were organised but not as organised in the second half.”
Stats and facts from the match (Backed by Opta)
- Liverpool have won 31 of their last 32 home league games (drawing the other game), scoring 93 goals while conceding 25 in this time.
- Since Liverpool’s first match after Virgil van Dijk’s injury against Everton (Ajax in October), the Reds have conceded just six goals in 11 games in all competitions, keeping six clean sheets in the process.
- This was Wolves’ joint-heaviest margin of defeat in a Premier League game since their return to the division in 2018 (4-0 v West Ham in September).
- Salah has 52 Premier League goals at Anfield for Liverpool – only Lionel Messi at the Camp Nou (63) and Robert Lewandowski at the Allianz Arena (59) have scored more at a single venue in the big-five European leagues since the Egyptian joined the Reds in 2017.
- Today was the 17th time Mo Salah has both scored and assisted a goal in the same Premier League game for Liverpool; since 2017-18, this is five more times than any other player in the competition (Son Heung-min, 12).
- Of Liverpool midfielder Wijnaldum’s 26 Premier League goals, 23 have come at home (88.5%), the highest ratio scored on home soil of any player with 20+ goals in the competition’s history.
- At 22 years and 13 days, Caoimhin Kelleher became the third-youngest Liverpool keeper to keep a Premier League clean sheet, after Scott Carson (19y 211d) and Chris Kirkland (21y 234d) – and the youngest to do so on his first start for the Reds.
- In his 87 Premier League appearances, Wolves’ former Liverpool player Conor Coady has only made three errors directly leading to a goal; two of those have come on Merseyside (v Everton at Goodison in September 2019 and this game against Liverpool at Anfield).
Premier League Results From Super Sunday
- West Bromwich Albion 1-5 Crystal Palace
- Sheffield United 1-2 Leicester City
- Tottenham 2-0 Arsenal
- Liverpool 4-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
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