Liverpool head to Molineaux on Thursday night to face Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Reds are looking to extend their Premier League lead back to 16 points ahead of Manchester City in the race for the Premier League title. While injuries have eased, Liverpool forward Xherdan Shaqiri will not be in the team after suffering another injury set back in training this week.
Jurgen Klopp’s team are fresh off of its 2-0 win over Manchester United at Anfield. The Reds need just 30 more points to clinch a first league title in 30 years. Liverpool can reduce that number to 27 with a win versus Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Liverpool defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers in a scrappy game at Anfield at the end of December, 1-0. Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Nuno Espirito Santo chose not to start star forward duo Adama Traore and Raul Jimenez. The pair did come off the bench as Wolves kept the fixture close. However, neither was able to prevent Liverpool from winning.
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The Reds have defeated Wolves in their last three Premier League matches keeping a clean sheet in each match. Wolverhampton Wanderers did pick up a win versus Liverpool in 2018-19 in the FA Cup third round at Molineaux.
Liverpool forward ruled out of clash
In Klopp’s pre-match press conference, he confirmed Liverpool forward Shaqiri would not be a part of Thursday night’s match. The often-injured player has been linked with a move away from Anfield this month. However, Liverpool are unlikely to let any first-team players leave as they fight on three fronts for trophies.
According to the BBC, Liverpool have already turned down Roma and Sevilla’s approaches for Shaqiri. The two clubs inquired about taking the Liverpool forward on loan but the Reds are not interested in sending out the Swiss international.
Shaqiri could be allowed to leave in the summer after being hit and miss at Anfield. It is believed Liverpool would not accept anything less than £25.5 million for the player. If the Reds received that fee, it would be over £12m more than what they paid Stoke City for Shaqiri in 2018.
Liverpool injuries news
Shaqiri isn’t the only first-team player set to miss the match on Thursday night. James Milner and Naby Keita are both nursing leg injuries.
The good news is Dejan Lovren has returned to full-team training and could feature at the weekend in the FA Cup fourth round versus Shrewsbury Town. Joel Matip and Fabinho both returned to the team versus Manchester United. Fabinho was used as a second-half sub while Matip was unused.
Liverpool have a busy period upcoming. They will play four matches in less than a fortnight with three of those games being league fixtures. The three league matches kick off on Thursday versus Wolverhampton Wanderers and continue versus West Ham away and home versus Southampton.
If the Reds can win all three matches, they will reduce the magic number to the league title to 21 points. February could begin with just seven more wins needed to claim a first-ever Premier League championship trophy.
