Liverpool’s season has not always gone according to plan, but in the final months of their campaign, the early-season troubles feel like a distant memory. They have traded their up-and-down form for a run of consistency, entering Tuesday’s match at Wolverhampton Wanderers with six wins in their last seven across all competitions and seem likely to add another to the tally by the final whistle.
The key to their stability? Embracing the trendy but unglamorous fail-safe of set pieces.
Set pieces have played a key role in Arsenal’s surge to the top of the table, but the league leaders are far from the only ones scoring goals from those opportunities. This season, 27.5% of goals across the Premier League have been scored from set pieces outside of penalties, the highest total since the 2016-17 season, when the figure stood at 23.9%. The Gunners may be leading the charge with 16 from corners this season, but the Reds have not acted as a dramatic foil – they have the most goals from set pieces in the new year, including three from Saturday’s 5-2 win over West Ham United.
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How to watch Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Liverpool, odds
- Date: Tuesday, March 3 | Time: 3:15 p.m. ET
- Location: Molineux Stadium — Wolverhampton, England
- TV: USA Network | Live stream: Fubo (try for free)
- Odds: Wolverhampton Wanderers +550; Draw +390; Liverpool -220
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Liverpool’s set-piece goals have not always been routine — Dominik Szoboszlai’s abilities off a free kick are always worthy of a highlight reel and are as entertaining a cheat code as any. Coach Arne Slot, though, bemoaned the Premier League’s increased focus on set pieces from a stylistic standpoint, even as his team finds success from those opportunities.
“You have to accept it,” Slot said in a press conference on Monday. “I think it’s mainly here in the Premier League. If I watch other leagues, I don’t think there’s so much emphasis on set-pieces. If I watch an Eredivisie game, which I still do, I see goals being disallowed and fouls on goalkeepers being given, and I think ‘wow, that’s a big difference.’ Here, you can almost hit a goalkeeper in his face, and the referee still says, ‘Just go on.’ Do I like it? My football heart doesn’t like it.”
He correlated the emphasis on set pieces with the increased competitiveness of the Premier League, something that will technically be on display on Tuesday at the Molineux Stadium. Liverpool’s trip to Wolves is a mismatch on paper – the Reds sit in fifth with a three-point edge over Chelsea in sixth, giving them some cushion as they push for a spot in next season’s edition of the UEFA Champions League, while Wolves are almost certain to be relegated. Even if Liverpool’s win over West Ham feels like a classic example of a face-off between teams on either end of the table, Slot insists that may not always be the case.
“Most of the games I see in the Premier League are not for me a joy to watch,” Slot said. “But it’s always interesting because it’s so competitive, and that is what makes this league great, because there’s so much competitiveness. Everyone can win against everyone, but just as someone who loves to watch football, without being interested in who’s winning or losing it, just to be enjoyed, I think there’s a big difference now between three or four years ago in the Premier League.
“Teams have become so much stronger — three or four years ago, when the top clubs faced the No 18, 17, 16, 15 [in the table], it could have been a four or five goals difference, and that’s usually what you like. If there’s so much difference between the teams, then one team is really good, but that’s not the situation anymore. It’s not only about the set-pieces, it’s also because so many teams have become very strong. But we’re not going to change.”
Frimpong, Wirtz near return
The Reds have a chance to go six points clear of Chelsea by the end of the midweek fixtures, the Blues set to follow up a challenging loss at Arsenal with a fixture at fellow Champions League contender Aston Villa on Wednesday. It would be a sizable advantage with nine matches to go, especially since the Premier League is increasingly likely to earn an extra Champions League berth thanks to England’s status atop UEFA’s association coefficient ranking.
Everything seems to be coming up Liverpool these days, but more good news awaits the Reds in the short-term – right wingback Jeremie Frimpong played 13 minutes as a substitute against West Ham, his first involvement in a month while dealing with an injury, and offers some attacking dynamism that could jolt Liverpool’s attack.
“Having Jeremie back is really nice but what you’re saying does go through your mind because we play three games in seven days, and then we are away to Galatasaray,” Slot said about their upcoming slate, which includes their Champions League round of 16 tie against the Turkish side. “But I prefer to have the challenge of managing his minutes than to see him with the medical staff doing his recovery.”
Florian Wirtz, meanwhile, is still unavailable after pulling out of warm-ups against Nottingham Forest on Feb. 22 with a back injury, but Slot also said he is inching closer to a return of his own.
“I don’t have anything different to say to what I said on Saturday,” Slot said. “The game on Tuesday will probably come too soon, and maybe the game on Friday as well. But let’s see how it all ends up. We hope to have him back sometime next week, maybe a bit earlier or a bit later, but that is the timescale.”