Premier League: high-level collective action allows Liverpool to beat Wolverhampton (video)
Diogo Jota planted the only rose of the meeting.
En winning (0-1) at Wolverhampton, with a goal from defector Diogo Jota, Monday, at the end of the 28th day of the Premier League, Liverpool relaunched in the race for the top 4 which opens the doors of the League champions.
This success allows the Reds to move up to 6th place and capitalize on the missteps of their rivals this weekend. They thus return to 5 lengths of Chelsea, held in check at Leeds (0-0), Saturday and which currently holds the last virtual ticket for the C1.
Wolverhampton, meanwhile, remains 13th, 9 points ahead of the red zone.
After their solid qualification for the quarter-finals of the Champions League in the middle of last week, Jürgen Klopp’s men have strung two straight wins for the first time since mid-December.
A success all the more encouraging as, with the same starting eleven as against Leipzig (2-0), Liverpool produced a performance in the same lines: solid defensively – even if the Wolves should have benefited from a penalty from the 2nd minute for an Alisson foul on Nelson Semedo – and realistic ahead.
There is still a mess ahead like this one against one badly played and finally missed by Sadio Mané from the 13th minute, or this shot from Mohamed Salah in a closed angle, well repulsed by Rui Patricio (80th).
But the goal scored is also a good sign, because it is really the collective work of the offensive triplet where Diogo Jota has found a place to the detriment of Roberto Firmino.
On an aerial balloon recovered with authority by Nathaniel Phillips, Mané immediately shifted Salah, who gave him a touch of the ball, the Senegalese deflecting it in the same way for Jota.
The low strike, not very powerful, nor very well placed, of the Portuguese benefited from a fault of hand of his compatriot in the cages for a goal that Jota celebrated discreetly against his former team.
The end of the match was marked by the head injury of Portuguese international goalkeeper Rui Patricio, evacuated on a stretcher after being struck by the knee of his teammate Connor Coady.
The doorman was treated for a dozen minutes on the lawn before being evacuated on a stretcher, a scene evoking the fractured skull suffered by Mexican Wolves striker Raul Jimenez at the end of November against Arsenal.
And the Belgians?
– Leander Dendoncker rose in the 76th minute of play.
– Divock Origi was not on the scoresheet.