Match reportIbrahima Konate and Mohamed Salah earn Liverpool victory at Wolves
A 61st-minute Mohamed Salah penalty earned Liverpool a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Saturday evening.
The Reds secured three points on the road at Molineux as Ibrahima Konate and Salah struck in either half, with the hosts briefly levelling the contest in the second period via Rayan Ait-Nouri.
The win was enough to send Arne Slot’s side to the top of the standings, a point ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal.
Team news
Following a recent absence due to injury, Alisson Becker returned to the starting line-up.
The goalkeeper was one of 10 Reds changes from the Carabao Cup win over West Ham United in midweek, while Darwin Nunez missed the fixture due to illness.
Liverpool: Alisson, Van Dijk, Konate, Diaz (Gakpo, 73), Szoboszlai (Jones, 73), Mac Allister, Salah, Jota, Robertson (Gomez, 89), Gravenberch, Alexander-Arnold.
Unused subs: Kelleher, Endo, Chiesa, Tsimikas, Quansah, Bradley.
First half
The opening exchanges passed without major incident, with Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s low effort from outside the area the only notable chance for either team.
Liverpool, however, saw their first opportunity of the game shortly after the 10-minute mark, as Andy Robertson flashed a ball across goal, which evaded the darting run of Salah.
The Reds continued to press their hosts into mistakes in the final third, though Wolves were enjoying plenty of possession and pushing Slot’s team back when they were able to cross halfway.
Alisson was first forced to punch clear, while Virgil van Dijk and Konate were on hand to provide interventions in the box, before the Reds goalkeeper caught a Matheus Cunha dipping shot.
After the half-hour mark, Liverpool enjoyed their best spell of the game, forcing the home side back to defend a succession of crosses and corners.
Trent Alexander-Arnold also fired a low free-kick goalward, but his effort was easily held by stopper Sam Johnstone.
Five minutes before the interval Liverpool worked another opening, Robertson again driving down the left to deliver, with his cross meeting the onrushing run of Dominik Szoboszlai, though the midfielder saw his volley from close range blocked by Johnstone’s trailing leg.
In added time, however, Konate was in the right place at the right time to power home a header and give the Reds a deserved lead at the break.
Diogo Jota broke free on the left flank as Wolves failed to clear from a corner ball, standing an inviting cross up into the area for Konate to run forward and leap highest, heading low and hard into the net.
Second half
Liverpool again pressed high following the change of ends and almost had a second goal minutes after the restart.
Mario Lemina’s loose pass across his own area, though, arrived just too quickly for Salah to be able to turn an effort on target from 20 yards out with the goalkeeper darting across to close the angle.
The hosts themselves capitalised on a defensive mix-up at the other end and it was full-back Ait-Nouri who took advantage to bring them level.
Liverpool failed to clear inside their own box and the ball broke to the Wolves defender to tuck home a low shot into the corner.
However, the Reds hit back almost instantly to restore their lead five minutes later from a penalty kick after Jota was brought down by Nelson Semedo as Alexander-Arnold delivered.
Salah stepped up to convert and made no mistake from the spot, sending Johnstone the wrong way.
Konate was then forced to intervene in his own box during a swift Wolves break via substitute Carlos Forbs with the game opening up.
Alexander-Arnold had held up the attacker as he cut inside to shoot, though the No.5 darted back to provide cover and a well-timed sliding tackle to clear.
Cody Gakpo and Curtis Jones were both introduced from the bench and the latter almost had an immediate impact on proceedings.
The midfielder first saw a counter-attack thwarted at the last second as Liverpool attempted to break over the halfway line, ahead of testing the reactions of Johnstone down low to his left.
Wolves pressed for a late leveller but the Reds held firm to see out the win and reach the summit of the top flight.
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