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Sport | Football

Reds looking to restore their seven-point title lead after Merseyside derby mayhem

George Flood49 seconds ago

Liverpool take on Wolves at Anfield in the Premier League this afternoon, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota both brought in.

Arne Slot’s leaders will be looking to quickly restore their seven-point advantage in the title race after injury-hit rivals Arsenal won at Leicester yesterday, with the manager set to be on the touchline as usual as he waits to see what punishment he will face for his sending off in the midweek Merseyside derby chaos.

Liverpool are without Cody Gakpo today after a new injury scare, while Curtis Jones is suspended after his own red card following the last-gasp 2-2 draw with Everton.

Wolves are missing a key forward of their own in Hwang Hee-chan as they make five changes in search of a third win in a row across all competitions.

10-man Ipswich’s hard-earned draw at Aston Villa on Saturday has brought Vitor Pereira’s 17th-place side back to within two points of the relegation zone, while their recent record at Anfield is woeful with nine defeats from their last 10 league visits and 15 in their last 16 meetings overall with today’s opponents.

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Liverpool vs Wolves latest news

Kick-off time: 2pm GMT | Anfield How to watch: Sky Sports Liverpool team news: Alexander-Arnold and Jota start Wolves team news: Five changes from FA Cup win Prediction: Liverpool to record comfortable win8 minutes agoAlexander-Arnold surpasses Gerrard with major Liverpool milestone

A hugely impressive milestone for Trent Alexander-Arnold at Anfield this afternoon.

At 26 and 132 days, he is the youngest player ever to reach 250 Premier League appearances for Liverpool, surpassing a certain Steven Gerrard.

But will he be staying put beyond the summer amid that ongoing contract saga and renewed links with Real Madrid?

11 minutes agoDiogo Jota leading the line for Liverpool

Arne Slot confirms in his pre-match interview with Sky Sports that it will be Diogo Jota playing through the middle for Liverpool this afternoon.

He sees it as a key chance for the Portuguese to get some valuable minutes after a rather stop-start campaign so far due to injury.

Liverpool FC via Getty Images

30 minutes agoFive Wolves changes after Blackburn win in FA Cup

Vitor Pereira makes five changes to the Wolves team that won 2-0 away at Championship promotion-chasers Blackburn in the FA Cup fourth round last weekend.

Jose Sa is back in goal in place of Sam Johnstone, who isn’t on the bench.

Matt Doherty, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Andre and Pablo Sarabia also return in place of Hugo Bueno, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Rodrigo Gomes and the injured Hwang Hee-chan.

Deadline day signings Marshall Munetsi and Nasser Djiga are both on the bench as they each look to make their league debuts, the former having come off the bench at Ewood Park.

Getty Images

44 minutes agoTwo Liverpool changes as Alexander-Arnold and Jota start

So that’s two Liverpool changes from the midweek Merseyside derby.

Trent Alexander-Arnold made his return from a two-game injury absence off the bench at Goodison Park, replacing Conor Bradley as the latter ran the risk of a second yellow card in the second half.

That change is made from the start today as Alexander-Arnold makes his 250th Reds appearance, while Cody Gakpo does miss out through injury as expected.

Diogo Jota gets his place in attack over Darwin Nunez, who remains on the bench.

Federico Chiesa is also among the Liverpool substitutes in the absence of Gakpo, with young midfielder James McConnell promoted to the bench with Curtis Jones’ suspension.

Getty Images

53 minutes agoWolves lineup

Wolves XI: Sa, Doherty, Semedo, Agbadou, Toti, Ait-Nouri, Andre, Gomes, Sarabia, Guedes, Cunha

Subs: Bentley, Bueno, Munetsi, Traore, Doyle, Forbs, Bellegarde, Djiga, Lima

55 minutes agoLiverpool lineup

Subs: Kelleher, Endo, Nunez, Chiesa, Elliott, Tsimikas, McConnell, Quansah, Bradley

1 hour agoWhy Arne Slot in Liverpool dugout despite red card

So as mentioned, Liverpool are without Curtis Jones today due to suspension after the wild scenes that immediately followed the final whistle in Wednesday’s chaotic Merseyside derby - the last one to take place at Goodison Park - that saw the Reds denied a valuable win that would have sent them nine points clear thanks to James Tarkowski’s 98th-minute hammer volley.

Jones took exception to Abdoulaye Doucoure celebrating that last-gasp leveller in front of the travelling fans, sprinting over to confront him, leading to a bust-up and huge melee involving both sets of players that saw police and stadium security intervene to try and restore peace.

Both Jones and Doucoure were shown second yellow cards by referee Michael Oliver, who then dished out straight reds to both Liverpool boss Arne Slot and his assistant Sipke Hulshoff for their protests regarding the Tarkowski goal - which they felt should have been ruled out for a push on Ibrahima Konate by Beto.

Liverpool also felt that far too much stoppage time had been played following an accidental collision between Everton defenders Jarrad Branthwaite and Carlos Alcaraz.

But with no automatic touchline bans enforced for manager sendings off, Slot is still facing an anxious wait to see what his punishment will be, leaving him free to coach from the dugout as usual today along with Hulshoff.

Slot could be facing a potential extended ban having already served a one-match touchline suspension in the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Southampton in December after collecting three yellow cards.

Slot and Hulshoff were both hit with FA charges on Friday, while Liverpool and Everton were both charged with failing to ensure their players "did not behave in an improper and/or provocative way" after the full-time whistle.

They all have until Wednesday to respond.

Action Images via Reuters

1 hour agoWolves vs Liverpool prediction

Liverpool’s impressive dominance under Arne Slot has begun to ease off a bit of late, with the Reds failing to win exactly half of their matches across all competitions since the start of 2025 - having won 23 of their previous 27, according to Opta Sports.

While it has not really cost them at all so far aside from a shock FA Cup exit with a second-string side out, the Reds will be keen to reassert some authority here against relegation-battling opponents, with key games against Aston Villa, Manchester City and Newcastle coming up ahead of the small matter of the Carabao Cup final and another Merseyside derby contest.

Wolves have a terrible recent record both against Liverpool and at Anfield and have been something of an inconsistent proposition under Vitor Pereira so far after their previous struggles under predecessor Gary O’Neil.

A shortage of forwards places a lot of pressure on Matheus Cunha to shoulder the goalscoring load, with chances expected to be few and far between this afternoon.

We anticipate Liverpool quickly shrugging off the Plymouth debacle and Goodison carnage with a comfortable victory to restore their seven-point title lead with 13 games to go.

Liverpool to win, 3-0.

REUTERS

1 hour agoWolves team news: Hwang Hee-chan injured

Wolves are without Hwang Hee-chan this afternoon after the South Korean striker was substituted during the first half of last weekend’s 2-0 FA Cup fourth round win at Blackburn with a hamstring injury.

Manager Vitor Pereira has confirmed that Hwang is expected to miss the next two or three games, with fellow forward Jorgen Strand Larsen expected to train on Saturday after his own injury lay-off but unlikely to be involved at Anfield.

Mali midfielder Boubacar Traore has been battling illness of late, while striker Sasa Kalajdzic is still out along with Yerson Mosquera, Enso Gonzalez and Leon Chiwome.

AFP via Getty Images

1 hour agoLiverpool team news: Cody Gakpo doubtful

Liverpool could be without Cody Gakpo this afternoon after the Dutch forward went off with a knock 20 minutes before the end of Wednesday’s hectic Merseyside derby.

If he isn’t fit to start at Anfield today, then it would presumably be Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez battling for the vacant spot in Arne Slot’s front three.

Curtis Jones serves a one-match suspension for his sending off in a post-match bust-up with Everton counterpart Abdoulaye Doucoure at Goodison, while Joe Gomez is still out with another hamstring injury along with young midfielder Tyler Morton.

AFP via Getty Images

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