Harvey Elliot’s strike midway through the first half was the difference as Liverpool saw off Wolves 1-0 at the Molineux to progress to the Fourth Round of the FA Cup and face a tie against Brighton and Hove Albion.
The 19 year old raced through on goal before firing past Jose Sa from distance as Liverpool’s rut came to a halt.
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Story of the match
With the delay in the opening seconds due to a light failure, it was the hosts who almost struck first blood. Adama Traore raced down the left and took on Kostas Tsimikas, he beat the Greek and picked out Raul Jimenez who diverted his header wide.
It took Liverpool a while to get going but when the Reds hit first gear, they struck first. From a Wolves attack, Thiago won the ball in the hosts final third and spread the play to Harvey Elliott. He continued his menacing run before letting fly from range as it drifted past Jose Sa.
The Reds had fire in their bellies and probed on hunt to find a second. After a loose ball in the box fell to Tsimikas, the Liverpool left back arrowed an effort on target however, he couldn’t keep it down as it flashed marginally over the bar.
Half chances came and went for Wolves, and Liverpool threw their bodies on the line to deny any goal-mouth shots and threatening crosses into the area in a reaction to Saturday’s disappointing display. Against the side from Midlands, Liverpool looked a lot more compact at the back and fought for plenty of balls.
Liverpool’s lead was almost doubled on the half hour mark when some neat interchange between Elliott and Cody Gakpo resulted in the Dutch being slipped through. On the angle, Gakpo blazed over.
The ball was in the back of the net for Liverpool, but the linesman’s flag was swiftly up to cut short the visitors premature celebrations. Elliott was involved once again, playing through Naby Keita. His first time pass picked out Fabio Carvalho who slotted past Jose Sa but the correct call was made to disallow the goal as the youngster was miles offside when the ball was played through to him.
Wolves knew through the right flank, they had a ceaseless threat through the pace of Adama Traore and he was fed through via a ball over the top by Ruben Neves. Traore eventually weaved his way forward but lacked composure on goal as his shot flew over.
The second half started at a slow pace, with neither side being able to control the flow of the game. The only effort of note in the first fifteen minutes was Traore blazing over after failing to control his shot.
Despite being offside, Cody Gakpo’s flashpoint in a Liverpool shirt came when his chip was denied by Sa before the flag was raised.
A dangerous territory for Liverpool that they needed to try and avoid was a Ruben Neves free-kick, and that was gift-wrapped for Wolverhampton Wanderers after Nathaniel Phillips scythed down a Wolves man on the perimeter of the penalty box. Neves stepped up and rocketed his effort into the roof of the net.
Wolves continued to probe and had another effort denied by a valiant Liverpool defence, as a ball whipped across the face was met by Joe Gomez before Raul Jimenez could connect with it.
Curtis Jones, introduced to the fray off the bench, almost made an instant impact as he squirmed an effort wide of Sa’s post.
Wolves continued to push, with Mateus Cunha’s header sprung Caoimhim Kelleher into life, with the Reds shot-stopper tipping the header round the post as Liverpool held on to claim a massive win.
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Player of the match - Harvey Elliott
Took his goal well and slotted back into Jurgen Klopp’s side well, Elliot was immense throughout the 90 minutes.
Throughout a crisis in Liverpool’s midfield, he has been a constant shining light and today on his Reds return, he was calm and composed.