Liverpool vs Wolverhampton Wanderers 30/12/19

30 December 2019

Liverpool will be looking to maintain their 100% home start in the Premier League (PL) when they take on Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield this weekend.

Sitting top of the table with a 13-point lead over second-placed Leicester, the hosts have won all nine of their opening PL home fixtures, with six of those victories coming via a multiple-goal margin. Also, a 4-0 demolition of Leicester last time out has stretched Liverpool’s winning PL run to nine straight games, with the Reds scoring two or more goals across all of those successes. Jurgen Klopp’s players have now kept a clean sheet in three consecutive top-flight matches after failing to do that nine times in a row. Still, the reigning Champions League holders remain the only side in England’s top tier to concede over 1.5 goals per league fixture only once this campaign. Their tally of nine goals conceded at home is league’s joint-best record, even though that haul represents 64% of their total PL goals allowed.

Encouraged by a stunning comeback win over Manchester City a couple of days ago, the visitors will be on the lookout for their third successive PL victory. Wolves’ recent upturn in results has seen them reduce the gap on fourth-placed Chelsea to just two points, and a seven-game unbeaten away PL run could further boost their confidence ahead of this massive fixture (W3, D4). Tightening up the defense will be crucial in Wolves’ efforts to bring Liverpool’s five-game winning run in top-flight H2Hs to a halt. Nuno Espirito Santo’s men have shipped precisely two goals per match in three of their last four PL fixtures, with four of seven goals they’ve conceded during that period coming inside the opening 28 minutes of play. Another massive problem for the Wanderers is that they’ve drawn a blank in seven of their previous ten PL H2Hs with Liverpool, scoring precisely one goal per match in the other three.