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2024/25 English Premier League
Matchday 6
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Liverpool
Molineux Stadium
Wolverhampton, England
Saturday, 28 September 2024
Kick-off is at 18h30
Liverpool will be keen to maintain their impressive record against Wolves in the Premier League when they meet at Molineux on Saturday, September 28 in the late kick-off.
The Reds have only been on the losing end twice in 20 top-flight encounters with the team from the West Midlands and won both home (2-0) and away (3-1) last season.
Arne Slot has made an overall positive start to his tenure since replacing Jurgen Klopp in the off-season, conceding just one goal in his first five matches at the helm.
That solitary goal came in a 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at Anfield on September 14, with the other four games all ending in wins and clean sheets.
Slot's side bounced back with a convincing 3-0 victory over Bournemouth on September 21 which lifted them up to second place, one point behind league leaders Manchester City.
Arsenal dropped to fourth in the standings after holding City to a 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium on September 22, while Aston Villa moved up to third spot thanks to a 3-1 win over Wolves 24 hours earlier.
The Old Gold have found the going tough in the new campaign, losing four of their opening five matches to prop up the table behind Everton (19th) and Southampton (18th), who also only have one point to show for their efforts thus far.
Gary O'Neil's side have already shipped 14 goals and the 1-1 draw with Forest was the only time they've let in less than two goals in a game.
Image Source: Alamy Stock Photo
In team news, O'Neil has a handful of injuries to contend with as Boubacar Traore, Yerson Mosquera, Enso Gonzalez, Sasa Kalajdzic (all knee) and Bastien Meupiyou continue to be unavailable, while Harvey Elliott (ankle) is the only confirmed absentee for Slot, who will assess Alisson (thigh) during the week.
O'Neil conceded everyone is down at the moment, but insists the only way things will improve is by continuing to fight for every point even when they're not playing well.
"The group are disappointed, as they rightly should be," he said. "We knew it was a tough start, but the group understands that we can play well in bits, but then when the game does start to get difficult, which it will, we're not going to outplay everybody for the whole game, and the shape of the team is not going to protect us from everything, there needs to be some grit.
"They do show that, they're a group that does give everything, but then they're finding it hard way at the moment. Not too much in the game, but again, we have accept that we didn't do enough to take anything from it. We're down the bottom of the league now. So, we need to fight, we need to scrap."
Slot was pleased to get a reaction from his players after the Forest and AC Milan setbacks and insisted that the right mentality was key to winning consistently rather than quality.
"I said to them today in the pre-match meeting that I learn from them day by day and I was really curious to see how we would react after the Milan game," the Dutchman said.
"What I know from the start - and what I knew before I even started - is that there is a lot of quality in this team, that's clear, but we are not the only one. There are a lot of quality teams in this league.
"So, winning games is not so difficult if you have so much quality, but if you want to win more than only a few games it's also about mentality.
"After the United game, which was a big win, or a statement win I think you call it here in England, then to see us coming back against Nottingham Forest like that, that was not what you expect from a team that wants to compete for something."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Wolves wins - 1
Liverpool wins - 4
Draws - 0
Premier League Matchday 6 fixtures:
Saturday, September 28
13h30: Newcastle United v Manchester City
16h00: Arsenal v Leicester City
16h00: Brentford v West Ham United
16h00: Chelsea v Brighton & Hove Albion
16h00: Everton v Crystal Palace
16h00: Nottingham Forest v Fulham
18h30: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Liverpool
Sunday, September 29
15h00: Ipswich Town v Aston Villa
17h30: Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur
Monday, September 30
21h00: Bournemouth v Southampton
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