Liverpool vs Wolves: TV channel, kick-off time, live stream, referee, injuries and team news

Liverpool will look for a third successive Premier League win when they host bottom-of-the-league Wolves at Anfield on Saturday.

Arne Slot’s side come in at the bottom of the pack, having beaten Brighton and Tottenham in their last two games, and feeling like they could have breathed life back into what had been a miserable season so far.

Speaking of miserable, Wolves are rock bottom, with two points from 17 games so far. They have lost ten league matches in a row. In most of these matches, they didn’t even really threaten to take a point or compete with their opponents. They have shown glimpses, like in their last defeat at Arsenal, but for the most part it has been a season of misery for Wolves fans.

Liverpool have a host of injuries and absences to deal with, so this could be something Wolves could look forward to in their quest for a first league win of the season.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s game.

How to watch:

The match will not be shown in the UK, but will be shown on NBC Sports in the US, JioHotstar in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow live updates from ESPN.

Key details:

Kick-off time: Saturday, December 27 at 3 p.m. GMT (11 a.m. ET; 8:30 p.m. IST and 1 a.m. AEST, Sunday)

Place: Anfield, Liverpool

Arbitrator: Simon Hooper

OUR: Michael Salisbury

Injuries and team news:

Liverpool:

Mohamed Salah, F: CAN, OUT
Dominik Szoboszlai, M: suspended, OUT
Cody Gakpo, F: hitting, DOUBT
Alexander Isak, F: ankle, OUT, est. return unknown
Wataru Endo, M: knock, OUT, est. return at the beginning of January.
Joe Gomez, D: hamstring, OUT, expected return in early January.
Conor Bradley, D: hitting, DOUBT
Ibrahima Konaté, D: knock, DOUBT

Wolves:

Emmanuel Agbadou, D: AFCON, OUT
Tawanda Chirewa, F: CAN, OUT
Daniel Bentley, G: ankle, OUT, est. return mid-January.
Hugo Bueno, D: tension, DOUBT
Toti Gomes, D: hamstring, DOUBT
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, M: hamstring, OUT, est.return late Jan.
Marshall Munetsi, M: calf, OUT, back east. mid-January.
Rodrigo Gomes, D: groin, OUT, est. return at the beginning of February.

Discussion points:

How will Liverpool handle their injury crisis?

Liverpool are strapped in terms of player availability. Alexander Isak has had surgery on his ankle injury, Joe Gomez and Wataru Endo are injured, Conor Bradley, Ibrahima Konate and Cody Gakpo are doubtful, while Dominik Szoboszlai is suspended and of course, Mohamed Salah is out for the Africa Cup of Nations. .

If Bradley, Konate and Gakpo do not qualify for the match, Liverpool could enter with just 11 fit senior players and just one senior centre-back available. This could mean departures for Jeremie Frimpong and Federico Chiesa, with Andy Robertson possibly replacing the centre-back.

Arne Slot said before the match that there was a chance Bradley and Gakpo could eventually be available, which would ease some of Liverpool’s concerns. But a Wolves side with two league points this season will see an opportunity, with so much disruption in Liverpool’s ranks.

Wolves’ best opportunity is to panic Liverpool with set pieces

All season, Liverpool have been vulnerable when defending set pieces. Last weekend against Spurs, despite having a one-man advantage, Liverpool panicked in the final minutes of the match, and the main reason was that they were unable to defend high balls into the box. With Konate uncertain, having not trained for a few days, Liverpool’s defense has even less height to be able to deal with high balls.

Liverpool have conceded 11 goals from set pieces in the league this season and Slot has taken note of that, coupled with their poor record from their own set pieces.

“I know the importance of this, it’s getting more and more important, and that’s why we’re so annoyed with our current record,” Slot said in the pre-match press conference.

For Wolves, their size – with Jorgen Strand Larsen, Tolu Arokodare and Ladislav Krejcí – should form the heart of their strategy as they attempt to secure their first win of the season and take advantage of what has been Liverpool’s uncertain record at Anfield this season.

Florian Wirtz has finally found some rhythm

After his massive money transfer from Germany this summer, Florian Wirtz struggled to establish himself in the Premier League, especially in the first few months. However, now he comes out on top in almost every game he plays. In the match against Spurs, it was Wirtz who opened the door for Liverpool with his pass for Alexander Isak’s opening goal.

With Slot’s change of system, Wirtz finds himself primarily in the left inside channel half-spaces that he so enjoyed playing in – that’s where most of his best performances for Leverkusen came from.

Today, Wirtz has settled into that role and built relationships with those around him. Milos Kerkez, in particular, had much more influence because Wirtz paired perfectly with him. Players like Curtis Jones and Hugo Ekitike also have a better understanding of where they need to be and what they need to do in terms of running and passing in and around Wirtz.

That first Liverpool goal still remains elusive for Wirtz, but perhaps a home game against the bottom team in the league could be a good opportunity to shake that off.

Wolves have a problem from the start

Jorgen Strand Larsen, along with Matheus Cunha, was an integral part of why the Wolves managed to stay up last season. However, with Cunha leaving for Manchester United, Strand Larsen has struggled to reach the heights he did last season. He has scored just one goal in 15 league appearances this season. Last weekend he missed a penalty against Brentford, when he saw a tame effort easily saved by Caoimhín Kelleher.

Tolu Arokadare, their replacement striker, also found things quite difficult. However, he scored against Arsenal a few weeks ago. Could this be the confidence boost he needed? Is it time for Rob Edwards to finally look beyond Strand Larsen?

Liverpool win, but don’t play well

At some point, the latter will catch up with the former. Their next two games, against Wolves and Leeds at Anfield, are excellent opportunities to improve their performance levels to something that could be more sustainable in the long term. However, the disruption caused by the current injury crisis will prevent them from trying to reach those performance levels.

Against Tottenham, Liverpool conceded slightly more xG than they created, despite playing most of that game with a man up. They dominated against Brighton, but still conceded 1.69 xG, while they had conceded 1.79 xG to Leeds before that. Slot’s reasoning for the way he put the team together recently is that he wanted to make them stronger and harder to beat. Despite winning their last three games in all competitions – including one in the Champions League against Inter – Liverpool have been far from convincing at both ends of the pitch.

However, with Wolves, Leeds and Fulham next in their next three games, if Liverpool can put the points on the board to put them in the top four, it gives them a platform and confidence to build on during the second half of the season.