Too often this season we’ve written about how Liverpool are in historically bad form.
While the Reds are not out of the woods yet, it is a change to talk about the opposition with as much pessimism as Liverpool fans have felt in recent months.
However, Wolves’ incredibly poor form puts Liverpool under pressure as dropping points would be a significant failure.
2 points from 17 games
Wolves are bottom of the table having collected two points from seventeen games. They have lost their last ten league games in a row.
Those points came in 1-1 draws against Tottenham and at home to Brighton in September. It’s been almost twelve weeks since the draw against Brighton. Their goal in that match was an own goal by Seagulls keeper Bart Verbruggen.
Their two wins this season have come in the League Cup. They beat West Ham 3-2 and Everton 2-0, both at Molineux.
Wolves have their lowest ever points tally in the Premier League era at Christmas, along with Sheffield United, who also took just two points from fourteen games in 2020/21.
Wolves (this season) and Sheffield United in 2020/21 are two of only three teams to have ever collected just two points from their first seventeen games of a league campaign. Newport County, in the Fourth Division in 1970-71, was the other.
Their nine league goals this season have come from nine different players, including an own goal from Brighton’s Verbuggen.
They have scored fewer goals than any team in the top seven divisions of English football.
Their total of 37 goals conceded is the most of any Premier League team this season.
They have two players away at the Africa Cup of Nations: Tawanda Chirewa with Zimbabwe and Emmanuel Agbadou from Ivory Coast.
Liverpool is enjoying the holidays
Liverpool have scored 16 first-half goals in 26 games in all competitions this season. Last season they had scored 24 before half-time at the same stage.
They have not conceded a first-half goal in any of their last six league and cup games since the sixth minute of their Champions League defeat to PSV last month.
Of the last 54 league matches Liverpool played in December, they have lost just once: 1-0 against Leicester in 2021.
Of the remaining 53, they won 39 and drew 14.
Liverpool are unbeaten in their last nine matches played on December 27, winning six and drawing three. One such win came against Wolves in 1977, with Phil Neal’s retaken penalty scoring maximum points.
Their last defeat on 27 December came in 1971, when they lost 1–0 at West Brom.
This is only the third time since 1986 that the Reds have played on this date. In 2016 they beat Stoke 4-1 and four years later were held 1-1 by West Brom, both matches taking place at Anfield.
This season’s scorers (incl. Community Shield)
Liverpool: Ekitike 11, Gakpo 5, Salah 5, Szoboszlai 5, Gravenberch 3, Isak 3, Chiesa 2, Van Dijk 2, Frimpong 1, Kerkez 1, Konate 1, Mac Allister 1, Ngumoha 1, Robertson 1, own goals 1
Wolves: Strand Larsen 3, Arokodare 2, Moller Wolfe 2, Munetsi 2, Rodrigo Gomes 2, Arokodare 1, Bellegarde 1, Hwang Hee-chan 1, Krejci 1, S. Bueno 1, own goals 1
*Statistics courtesy of LFC statistician Ged Rea (@ged0407).
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