Divock Origi scored a late injury team goal away at Molineux to send Liverpool to the top of the Premier League table.
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Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp produced yet another late drama on Saturday, with substitute Divock Origi tucking in a stoppage-time winner to hand the visitors a hard-fought 1-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers. On his return to Wolves, Diogo Jota had the Reds’ most promising chance in each half. After sending a back-post header wide, he later produced one of the misses of the season when his close-range shot was blocked on the goalline by home captain Conor Coady. Just when it appeared that there would be no breakthrough at Molineux, Origi spun inside the box after good work by Mohamed Salah to guide the ball home, sending the visiting fans into sheer joy.
The three points meant Klopp’s Reds capitalised fully on the defeat of Chelsea, who began the day top of the Premier League table. The Blues lost 3-2 at West Ham United. Now, Liverpool are at the top of the table with 34 points from 15 matches. However, Manchester City could replace the Reds at the top if they beat Watford in the late match on Saturday. Earlier, Klopp named an unchanged line-up, deploying the same starting XI as he did for the midweek Merseyside derby victory at Goodison Park.
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— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 4, 2021
Liverpool’s recent trips to Molineux have normally been tight affairs and the early exchanges on Saturday followed a similar trend, with very few scoring chances in the opening quarter-hour. At 18 minutes, the first real attempt arrived. Jota’s downward header from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s curling corner was blocked by Leander Dendoncker.
Not long after, Thiago Alcantara’s hooked pass into the box evaded the head of Rayan Ait-Nouri and found the forward sprint of Alexander-Arnold. But the full-back’s first-time strike flew over. Alexander-Arnold then turned creator, using Jordan Henderson’s dummy run on the overlap to send in a cross from the edge of the right-side of the penalty box. Jota made firm contact with his header but nodded it onto the wrong side of the goal.
Jota then picked a through ball to Andy Robertson on the left flank and his ball across the face of the goal missed Sadio Mane and was superbly cleared by Romain Saiss ahead of Mohamed Salah.
Saturday night and I like the way you move…DIVOCK ORIGI!!? pic.twitter.com/kFkgDjzU4T
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 4, 2021
Wolves started brightly in the second half when Adama Traore stole possession from Virgil van Dijk deep in Reds territory and laid the ball to Hwang Hee-Chan, who was thwarted by Alexander-Arnold. Immediately at the other end, Thiago almost opened the scoring.
A lofted Alexander-Arnold cross was volleyed by Salah across the area to the Spanish midfielder. His close-range first effort was blocked by Raul Jimenez and his rebound was impressively saved by Jose Sa.
Soon after, Sa rushed out from his goal to the left flank as Salah chased down a forward pass. A mix-up allowed Jota to race down free on goal with the goalkeeper completely stranded. Two Wolves players got back to the goal-line to prevent the Portuguese forward from finishing and adding to Jota’s frustration, his close-range strike was heroically blocked by Coady.
Towards the end, Sa produced a fabulous save to push Mane’s effort over the frame of the goal four minutes from full-time. With just seconds remaining, the ball was spread out wide to Salah, who cut through from the flank. He then teed up Origi, who swiftly turned and guided a low hit beyond Sa, leaving the home fans heartbroken.
