It's Wolves vs Liverpool in the FA Cup fifth round at Molineux tonight
It's Wolves vs Liverpool in the FA Cup fifth round at Molineux tonight
Liverpool are currently drawing 0-0 at Wolves in their FA Cup fifth-round tie at Molineux.
It is the second meeting of the Premier League rivals this week. On Tuesday basement boys Wolves pulled off a shock 2-1 win to damage Liverpool's hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
Can the Reds respond this evening and book their place in the quarter-finals? Arne Slot has certainly rung the changes in an effort to do that, .
Key Events
Liverpool ponderings
Ngumoha is having a good game so far.
The Wolves defence don't really know what to do with him.
Liverpool are in control, so the only question now is when Wolves score the opener.
Ngumoha sharp
Rio Ngumoha has been the brightest player in a red shirt so far. He is so direct and willing to take on his man every chance he gets, going both ways with some crosses off his left foot at times as well as cutting inside looking to shoot with his right.
Six corners
Liverpool have had six corners inside 25 minutes. The most recent was taken short once more before being wasted by Salah with a heavy ball to the back post.
Lively start from Liverpool
There can't be any complaints about how Liverpool have started this one.
They've forced a number of corners and had a couple of shots saved and we've only had 13 minutes.
Rio Ngumoha denied for Liverpool
Ngumoha works Johnstone with a left-footed strike after a step-over inside the area to work the space. That's why he is in the team, for that sort of stuff.
Late arrivals
To be fair, the ground is almost a sell-out now. Very few empty seats.
Maybe people thought this was the 8.15pm kick-off.
Same pattern
The pattern of play is the same as it was in the first half on Tuesday with Liverpool dominating the ball and probing and poking for any openings, which haven't been forthcoming so far.
Mac Allister has just worked the goalkeeper with a good strike after Ngumoha had been bundled out of it. It's Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back, by the way.
Liverpool off the post!
An inventive corner routine from Liverpool as they go short before Gravenberch clips it in for Gakpo, who heads against the post. The offside flag then goes up. Signs of life in an attacking sense, at least.
Tactics chat
Szoboszlai is the right-back this evening.
Jones is the number 10.
Everyone else where you might expect.
Szoboszlai change
He's got rid of his braids. Wise move. They weren't great.
Not a sell-out
Slightly surprised to see a fair few empty seats in the home end this evening.
Would have thought Tuesday would have whetted their appetite.
Mind you, it's a Friday night and a third home game in eight days isn't cheap.
Tunneling teams
The players are getting ready to rock and roll. Nearly kick-off here.
Michael Owen says Xabi Alonso being unattached increases the pressure on Arne Slot between now and the end of this season at Anfield.
Speaking on TNT Sport, Owen said:
"I guess most clubs have a [end-of-season] review anyway, I like Arne Slot and to win Premier League in his first season was amazing, but this is a big game, You don't mess about and every game is important now for Liverpool."
Jota tribute
Today saw the unveiling of two new paintings inside Molineux by former Wolves player Jody Craddock in tribute to Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva.
Jota, who played for both Wolves and Liverpool, was tragically killed along with his brother in a car crash last July.
More from Arne Slot, who was speaking to TNT Sports' Jules Breach:
"The mindset is of us wanting to do much better than three days ago. We are able to and we should do if we want to win. We had a lot of possession but not as many chances as I was hoping for but enough to win the game but apparently not because we didn't. Usually I like it when it comes to Europe you play a team so soon after it. In the Premier League you see so many games of the other teams so you know what to expect more.
On Rio Ngumoha: "It's rare if you look at the whole season or six weeks where his playing time is increased, his playing time increased so the next step is he starts. If he does well of course, and we have player availability in that line. Hugo has to play every game so today means Hugo is not starting and Rio is."
On the FA Cup: "It ranks very high as always, we have Premier League and Champions League play. PL is impossible for us to win but we still have to qualify for Champions League and the FA Cup, you English people know even better than me what it means."
Right-back issues
Liverpool are playing a game this season. So there's question marks over the right-back position, obviously.
Looks like it's between Szoboszlai and Jones today. No real clue who it will be yet. But one of those for sure.
Arne Slot says Liverpool's ongoing "transition" will be aided significantly this summer if they have Champions League football on the agenda.
The Reds are embroiled in a fight for a place in the top five in the Premier League and currently sit sixth behind Chelsea, Aston Villa and Manchester United, the three clubs they are now realistically fighting it out with.
Slot told TNT Sport:
"It's important, the three aims we have now (Champions League, FA Cup, top-five finish) - not before the season started - but we want to be in the Champions League and it is important for this club financially, I mean. The season when I arrived, there was a reason we only signed Federico Chiesa and that was because the season before we were in the Europa. We know we are in a transition and a transition works better when there is money available.
"We always knew the signings we made would be a big success but we always knew it might tamke some time. It has been shown with the games everY three days, that intensity has been something new for a few of them.
"Maybe even more now we have lost, we want to make up for it. I hope all the players feel the same as me, we want to make up for the loss and the performance we had. So in that sense it is a good thing we play them again."
So no real surprise to see Rio Ngumoha start this one but it is great to see Florian Wirtz back on the bench. The Germany international has missed the last three games with a back issue and Arne Slot said yesterday he could be involved for 'some minutes' if needed. Let's hope it's to coast through the final 15 minutes or so rather than being sent on to pull something out of the fire...
We believe it is going to be Curtis Jones at right-back. Even with Jeremie Frimpong fit and Joe Gomez available, a midfielder finds his way into that role tonight. Slot might argue it's a case of needs-must but it has to be stressed only Conor Bradley is injured in that position right now.
Liverpool starting line-up confirmed
The Liverpool team is locked in.
Alisson; Jones, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Szoboszlai, Ngumoha; Gakpo.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Konate, Kerkez, Wirtz, Chiesa, Ekitike, Frimpong, Nyoni, Morrison.
Four changes. Wirtz back on the bench.
Team news at 7pm
In the Premier League, team news comes one hour and 15 minutes before kick-off. But in the FA Cup, it's one hour.
Not long now.
To start Hugo Ekitike or not tonight?
He looks leggy for me as games get to their latter stages and with Alexander Isak still someway off a return, it'd be a risk to start the France international tonight.
That being said, the back-ups for Ekitike are hardly making a roaring case for themselves. Federico Chiesa, specifically. The Italian looks increasingly like a spare part in this squad and I expect him to depart back to his homeland in the summer window.
But does he start tonight? Tough call for Slot to get right this one.
FA Cup rules for Wolves vs Liverpool including VAR, extra-time, replay and substitutes
Everything you need to know right .
Liverpool vice-captain Andy Robertson pulled few punches in his assessment of Tuesday night's defeat - but he sees tonight's re-run as a great chance to get to within one game of Wembley:
The performance level on Tuesday wasn’t good enough, you don’t win many games of football playing the way we did, there’s no getting away from that.
“I thought the first half kind of lacked intensity and then the game sort of turned into a basketball match. We know, especially under this new manager (Rob Edwards), Wolves are competitive. It’s not Wolves that are 20th in the league.
“They took three points off us, Villa and a point off Arsenal recently. So they are a team that are really difficult to beat at the minute, so we need our full focus into that game and then we’ll see who we get in the quarter-finals and see if we can book a place into Wembley (for the semis).”
Robertson is aware of the threat Wolves will pose
Stats amazing
A lot of stats in one go there. Digest them at your leisure.
Half-an-hour until the Liverpool team is confirmed. And the Wolves one actually.
This match is Liverpool's 457th game in the FA Cup in total to date. They have won 245 of those ties, with 115 losses.
Liverpool have scored in all eight FA Cup meetings against Wolves since the first fixture in 1896.
The Reds' top-flight defeat at Molineux in midweek was just the second in their last 17 clashes with Wolves in league and cup.
Wolves will be trying to record back-to-back wins over the Reds for the first time since 1980.
However, Liverpool have never lost consecutive matches that were (a) both against the same opponent and (b) both played on their opponent's ground.
The Reds have scored in each of their 12 outings since a 0-0 draw at Arsenal in early January, their longest sequence of the season so far.
In Liverpool's games this season, 43 goals have been scored in total from the 76th minute onwards, with the Reds scoring 24 of those.
The Reds have been involved in four penalty shootouts in FA Cup history so far, winning all four. They have won 20 of 29 in all competitions.
Dominik Szoboszlai could become the first Liverpool player to score in three successive rounds of the FA Cup since in 2012. He could also be the first for 25 years to score in each of the third, fourth and fifth rounds in the same season - with in 2001 the last.
Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones, meanwhile, will add themselves to the list of 16 players who have scored for the club on all seven days of the week if they find the net in this game.
Cody Gakpo's next goal will see him become the 58th player to score 50 times for Liverpool in all competitions and the second Dutchman to do so after .
*Stats courtesy of Ged Rea
Wolves woe
Speaking from a purely selfish point of view, it'll be sad to see Wolves go down.
That's because their food in the press room is excellent, which can't always be said for every team in the Premier League playing this evening.
Wolves definitely a top four contender.
Actually, Tottenham are the best for food. Do we really want them to go down as well?
Team ponderings
Expect changes this evening from Liverpool.
But how many?
I reckon there are four changes that are nailed-on, with Ngumoha, Robertson, Gomez and Jones coming in.
Anything after that would be a surprise.
Florian Wirtz has been papering over the Liverpool cracks and FSG face big question