Arne Slot wary of resurgent Wolves as Liverpool chase Champions League spot

LONDON – Liverpool manager Arne Slot is focused on a “difficult” English Premier League trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers on March 3 to bolster his team’s bid to secure a Champions League spot.

The fifth-placed Reds defeated West Ham United 5-2 over the weekend to move to 48 points, three behind Manchester United and Aston Villa who are third and fourth respectively.

Slot’s men are on a three-game winning streak in the league and are expected to beat bottom-side Wolves, but their opponents are boosted by an impressive 2-0 win over Villa heading into this clash.

“Wolves are doing much better than their results show. Whole season they’ve hardly been beaten by a big goal difference,” said the 47-year-old Slot.

“Recently they’ve been getting points and a win against Villa. It’ll be a difficult game tomorrow.

“Two weeks ago you could say we are not that well placed (in the top-four race). Things change really fast. We are really close together with a few teams and things can change every single match day.

“We focus on our next game, on ourselves. We know every game has been difficult throughout the whole season and that’s what we expect now.”

Liverpool are the big favourites for this match even if they are playing away at the Molineux, where they will again visit on March 6 for their FA Cup fifth-round clash against Wolves.

“It’s not unusual to play three games in seven days for us,” Slot added.

“It’s a challenge to play each other twice in a few days, but I like that. In the Champions League when you play a team again soon after, you can change the set-up of your team.

“But we (Wolves and Liverpool) know each other that well; I don’t see much difference playing each other twice in a few days.”

Although they conceded two goals against West Ham, the Reds had kept three clean sheets in their previous three matches in all competitions, scoring five goals.

They have also now scored at least two goals in six of their past nine fixtures.

Goals are important, but ultimately it is wins that Slot will be concerned about – his team have won four games in a row and six times in their last seven matches.

Focusing on the next challenge, the odds will be in their favour as Liverpool have beaten Wolves in six consecutive matches in the Premier League.

Slot will be wary, however, that the most recent three contests were hard-fought 2-1 victories – including the reverse fixture at Anfield in December.

“Most of the games in the Premier League are not a joy to watch, but it’s always interesting as it’s so competitive,” he said.

“That’s what makes this league great – anyone can beat anyone.”

On how he plans to “control” games, the Dutchman added: “Being a manager throughout the years, you constantly have to change your approach.

“It’s hard to find a tactic not to give away a throw in or a free kick. But controlling a counter-attack is something you have tools for and that’s why I think we’ve done that not quite well in general.”

The Liverpool boss also gave an update on the fitness of Florian Wirtz, who missed the West Ham win.

“The game probably comes too soon tomorrow and maybe the game at the weekend. We hope to have him back next week,” he said.

In the other camp, Wolves’ current points tally of 13 means they will not be the worst team in Premier League history, with that unwanted record being held by Derby County, who had just 11 points in the 2007-08 season.

Manager Rob Edwards will likely still see his team relegated.

But having overseen four defeats, five draws and two wins in his 11 most recent matches, including a 2-2 stalemate with league leaders Arsenal, Wolves will prove more challenging that others would assume.