Liverpool V Wolves - English Premier League - Final Day - Sunday 12th May 15:00 - Match Preview
It's been a long, difficult season and Liverpool go into the 38th and final game still in the hunt for the Premier League title, the 94 points already acquired would have been enough to lift the trophy on all except 2 previous seasons since 1992 and all they can do now is win their final game against Wolves and hope that 97 will be enough. It is out of their hands however as Manchester City visit Brighton and should they claim all 3 points the title will be heading back to the Etihad for another season.
As you would probably expect when coming to the end of such a tough season, injuries are beginning to pile up. Adam Lallana, Naby Keita and Roberto Firmino are all ruled out and will take no part in this final game while Andy Robertson and Jordan Henderson both picked up knocks in the previous match against Barca and are will face assessment ahead of the match on Sunday. The good news for Jurgen Klopp is that star man and Premier League top goalscorer Mo Salah will be able to return after missing out of the last game with a head injury. Wolves manager Nuno Santo has zero injuries and his side will remain 7th in the league regardless of what happens but I still expect him to field a strong side hoping to end the season on a high.
Divock Origi was the hero at Anfield on Tuesday scoring twice in the 4-0 win against Barca grabbing the vital goal to send The Reds through to the final. As a reward, it is almost certain he will maintain his place in the Liverpool attack playing alongside Salah and Mane in Firmino's absence. Gini Wijnaldum also scored twice in that game after coming off the bench at half time and is also highly likely to have earned a place in the starting lineup against Wolves, Jordan Henderson seemed to suffer a knee injury but battled on and completed the game however he seemed in agony following the final whistle and may miss out. Therefore we may see Shaqiri join Wijnaldum and Fabinho in the midfield, Shaqiri provided some key assists in the past couple of games, his chances of a start will be increased if Andy Robertson is deemed unfit to play as James Milner will most likely cover for him in defence.
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Wolves have proven a challenge for many of the top teams this season with wins against Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea as well as collecting draws against Spurs and Manchester City. They play somewhat of a unique style with their 3-5-2 formation and like to get the ball out wide using long diagonal balls from the back 3 which seems to catch teams out quite often. In the reverse fixture, Liverpool handled those well and picked up a 2-0 victory with goals from Salah and Van Dijk. Wolves did manage to beat them however in the FA Cup this season knocking them out with a 2-1 win. Liverpool have a strong defence but they will have their hands full with Raúl Jiménez and Diogo Jota up front, they have proven to be quite a threat with 22 goals between them in the league this season.
Liverpool have done all that they can so far in order to win the league and will it would be a crushing blow should they make it to 97 points and only take 2nd place it should still be seen as an extremely impressive accomplishment. Whether Brighton are able to help them out or not Liverpool still has the chance to end the season on a high after making the Champions League final but it would be incredible if they could go into that final looking to complete the double as Premier League champions.
never give up is so true