Only five days earlier Rob Edwards had streamed down the touchline and pulled his calf, he said, celebrating Wolves’s second goal in a rare victory against rivals Aston Villa. This time he cut loose again deep into six minutes of second-half stoppage time, as André’s deflected strike floored Liverpool. Edwards booted a ball off a pitch-side cone and went to drink in the moment with the locals. Joe Gomez dragged his red Liverpool shirt over his face. Arne Slot was punch-drunk. Liverpool were beaten by the league’s bottom club.
Wolves had stunned the visitors by taking the lead with 12 minutes of regular time to play, Rodrigo Gomes’s clinical finish capping a well-worked attack that Virgil van Dijk will not want to see again in a hurry. Liverpool were toiling but then, after another anonymous display, Mohamed Salah came to life with an equaliser.
In the buildup to this match Slot spoke about wrestling with his football heart, acknowledging the spike in set-piece goals in the Premier League this season has left him a little cold, even if his side have been the biggest beneficiaries of late; Liverpool have scored a league-high nine goals from set plays this calendar year. The goals from open play had dried up, Slot said, and Liverpool needed to remedy their struggles if they are to make sure of a Champions League berth.
