Referee: Michael Oliver.
Assistants: Darren Cann, Dan Robathan.
Fourth official: Paul Tierney.
VAR: Craig Pawson.
Assistant VAR: Derek Eaton
Recent League Meetings
Sunday 29 December 2020, Anfield – Liverpool 1-0 Wolves
Sunday 12 May 2019, Anfield – Liverpool 2-0 Wolves
Friday 21 December 2018, Molineux – Wolves 0-2 Liverpool
Tuesday 31 January 2012, Molineux – Wolves 0-3 Liverpool
Saturday 24 September 2011, Anfield – Liverpool 2-1 Wolves
Last 5 League Games
Wolves Liverpool
WA3-2 v Southampton WH2-0 v Man Utd
DH1-1 v Newcastle WA1-0 v Spurs
LA1-2 v Watford WH2-0 v Sheffield Utd
LA0-1 v Liverpool WH1-0 v Wolves
WH3-2 v Man City WA4-0 v Leicester
Before I started to write this I took a look back through the history of both clubs for any specific highlights we’ve shared down the years.
For those who already know their history or aren’t interested you may wish to skip the next few paragraphs, but hopefully at least some of you will enjoy a little trip down memory lane.
One of the more obvious meetings from our past is the 4th round FA Cup tie from February 1952 at Anfield. Throughout the 1950’s Wolves were one of, if not the best side in the country winning 3 league titles and finishing runners up a further 3 times.
To this day it is still the record attendance at Anfield of 61,905. Depending on how big the Anfield Road extension goes it’s a record that may well remain for a while yet – although I’d like to think they take it into consideration, perhaps Arsenal style add in one extra seat so we can reach 61,906? The result by the way was a 2-1 win for us with the one and only Bob Paisley opening the scoring in the 5th minute.
I suppose having mentioned Bob, it makes sense to follow with probably the biggest highlight – at least from our point of view - between the two sides at Molineux, a certain game from May 4th 1976. The game saw us crowned League Champions for the 9th time, and was the very first trophy won by Paisley as manager (unless we’re counting Charity Shields!). It would shortly be followed by the UEFA Cup that same month, then many, many more.
I was still 7 months from being born so don’t have any memories of my own from this momentous occasion – but I’ve seen some of the footage on video.
However, one of the best threads I’ve found on RAWK has many brilliant tales and anecdotes of the day, including how people travelled to the game, how they got in to the ground, and some of the magic celebrations after a famous late comeback gave us a 3-1 win, and the title by a point over QPR.
I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t taken a look at the link below to do so – a reminder (as if one were needed) about why this club and its supporters are so special.
https://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=22076.0In terms of players that have gone between the two clubs, there have been a number of big names down the years who’ve been associated with both clubs, with Conor Coady being the latest. However there are two particular names from our history that stand out. The first and most obvious is Emlyn Hughes.
Signed for £65,000 from Blackpool in 1967 he played 665 times for us over the next 12 years, lifting numerous trophies including the first two of our six European Cups. After losing his place to Alan Hansen he moved to Wolves in 1979 where he captained them to their most recent major honour and the only domestic trophy that evaded him at Liverpool, the League Cup.
The other player that stands out to me, from our histories, is Alun Evans. A sad tale of potential not realised, perhaps more famous for what happened off the pitch than on it. It started brightly enough when he became the most expensive teenager ever at the time when in 1968 he signed from Wolves for £100,000.
He scored on his Anfield debut as we put 4 past Leicester & Peter Shilton in the first 12 minutes, but didn’t see out the game limping off close to the end. He was however fit to return to Molineux the following week and score 2 past his old club as we ran out 6-0 winners. According to LFChistory.net the crowd adapted a song by The Scaffold – “Thank you very much” (better known to me as the Cadburys Roses advert song), to taunt the Wolves fans for allowing us to sign Alun. “Thank you very much for Alun Evans. Thank you very much. Thank you very very very much”.
After scoring 5 in his first 9 games his form tailed off with only 2 further goals in the remaining 30 games of the 68/69 season. Alun started the next season suspended after a sending off at the end of 68/69 and things went from bad to worse when he was glassed at his father in laws Oasis nightclub in December 1969. He required 70 stitches, administered without anaesthetic, ultimately leaving him with permanent scars.
He did still have a few high points such as a hat-trick at Anfield against a Bayern Munich team including the likes of Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller in his first full game for 4 months after a cartilage operation. And he scored the goal of the month in Germany in the return leg – a volley from the edge of the area.
He also scored the first in a 2-1 victory over Everton in the FA Cup semi-final in 1971, however by this time Kevin Keegan was emerging and after just 13 appearances in 1971-72 the last of which was against Wolves, he transferred to Aston Villa.
Here endeth the history section! Apologies to those who have no interest or already knew it all, but one of the things I enjoyed as much as anything as a kid was learning everything I could about our great club, so thought this was a good opportunity to share some of the history between our clubs.
Anyway onto the present….
Things have gone ok this season haven’t they… the last victory being one of, if not the most enjoyable yet. At the start of December I remember thinking if we got to the end of January and were still in the clear by 6-9 points we’d be almost there given the schedule and some of the teams we had to play.
Yet, here we are, almost two months later having won every game (bar the kids v Villa), and not let a league goal in since the Everton game at the start of December. So, on paper at least, looking at the games we have left, not to mention those of our nearest challenger, I think it’s fair to say it’s ours to lose from here.
What we can be confident of is knowing that this team and our staff won’t let up or begin to believe anything is over until it is – so we should aim to enjoy the ride in what will hopefully turn out to be one of the greatest season’s we’ve ever known – which is really saying something given WE ARE LIVERPOOL (Tra la la la la).
This is, on paper at least, one of the toughest matches we still have to play in the league. The game against them at Anfield just under a month ago came during the hectic Christmas run of fixtures and it showed, with both teams below their best, as we fought our way to a scrappy 1-0 win. Mind you, this shouldn’t be much of a surprise anymore, as winning (even when below our best) is just, well, kind of “what we do” – as Virgil might say.
No doubt there will be a narrative along the lines of how Wolves were hard done/cheated last time due to our goal being awarded, and their goal being chalked off by VAR. Despite the fact both decisions were correct in the end – no thanks to Anthony Taylor.
Wolves have a comparable first 11 with the likes of Leicester, Chelsea & Spurs and aside from a slow start might be closer to a top 4 slot than they currently are (which still isn’t that far off). They’ve managed the UEFA Cup involvement well and are positioned to make this one of their best seasons since the 1950s. They have, in my view, an excellent manager/coach in Nuno Espirito Santo, and they’ve spent a bit of cash but on the whole done so wisely building up a team that can challenge domestically for a top 6 place.
It’ll be interesting to see how long they can keep hold of both Nuno and some of their more sought after players, and when/if they do go whether they can replace them in a way that allows them to maintain their current situation as one of the better teams in the country.
And so 25 days since the last head to head, we arrive at Molineux having won every game since without conceding, whilst they have dipped only returning to winning ways in impressive fashion coming from 2 down against a relatively in form Southampton in their last game.
I’ll leave it up to others to predict line ups and scores. I think it’s fair to say a draw here wouldn’t be the worst result after such an effort on Sunday, emotionally as well as physically. Wolves are definitely one of the more dangerous teams to play, and if we’re below our best they have the players who can make us pay.
However we also know we are the best in the world right now and really anything but another win would be disappointing. Turn up and play the way we can and we can continue our march to 19 and perhaps even a few more records on the way.
Edit: Thanks to kriss for highlighting a slight error in the above info. Alun Evans goal of the month in Germany was in fact in the Cup Winners Cup in a 3-1 defeat to Bayern a season later than I had noted above.
