Very interesting game to start the Premier League Saturday round.

Wolves are struggling without their key player Matehus Nunes, who went to Manchester City in August for 60MM Euros. It’s been a difficult transfer window for them losing attacking players like Jimenez, Nunes, Traore, Neves and Podence which may explain that lack of finishing, but they will be hoping new boy and big summer signing Cunha will be able to find some form and quickly.

They have had a mixed start of the season with new coach Gary O’Neill. He has bought a structure and style of play to the team which I think they have lacked the last few seasons. They will set up defensively and try to punish on the counterattack. What they have lacked so far is a cutting edge on those counter attacks.

Unfortunately for Wolves, they are playing the masters of cutting edge on the counterattack, Liverpool FC.

Their defeat against Manchester United in the first round was pretty unlucky, and had a crazy ten-minute spell that cost them at least a draw vs Crystal Palace the last time out. They claimed a vital win at Everton, making a record so far of 3 defeats and 1 victory.

One positive O’Neil could take from the last defeat at Selhurst Park was the performance of Pedro Neto, who teed up Hwang Hee-chan and Matheus Cunha for Wolves’ goals. The Portugal international has a joint-high three Premier League assists this season, a tally he has only beaten in one previous campaign, registering six in 2020-21.

They have just won two of their last 37 Premier League games when failing to keep a clean sheet (eight draws, 27 defeats), and are winless in their last 14 such matches since beating Southampton 2-1 in February, recording three draws and 11 defeats since then. The defense is a real problem for Wolves and O’Neil is still trying to solve it, with 8 goals conceded in the first 4 rounds and only one game to nil (0:1 against Everton, with hosts seeing a goal disallowed by VAR and producing 1.07 expected goals).

O’Neil has a few injury concerns to deal with, and there could be a different look to his lineup on Saturday. Matheus Nunes’ exit gave Wolves the funds for a late trolley dash, and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Tommy Doyle, Enso González and Santiago Bueno could all make their debuts.

On the other hand, Liverpool headed into the international break in fine form and are still unbeaten. They have a great balance on their midfield and I think Klopp is still tweaking it ever so slightly with Curtis Jones coming in last game, but they seem much less open than their first two games. Szoboszlai has been so impressive, and they will be hoping he returns from international duty unscathed.

Having kept Mo Salah past the Saudi transfer window is great news for them, and I feel they can put the speculation behind them and really kick on from here.

It’s fair to say Jürgen Klopp’s men look more like their old selves after a dismal 2022-23 campaign and surely will be title contenders.

Key defender Ibrahima Konate is back from injury and fully available, a good boost to replace the suspended CB Virgin Van Dijk.

It’s never easy coming back to an away fixture straight after the international break for the big teams who have so many players away, but I expect Liverpool to win the game. The recent news around Mo Salah, who has 8 goal involvements in 13 games vs Wolves, means I have a feeling he will be making the headlines again for all the right reasons. I expect Liverpool to win by a goal with Salah on the scoresheet.

该文章通过有道机器翻译，仅供参考:

周六的英超首轮比赛非常有趣。

狼队失去了他们的核心球员努内斯，他在8月份以6000万欧元的价格转会到曼城。对他们来说，这是一个艰难的转会窗口，他们失去了像希门尼斯、努内斯、特拉奥雷、内维斯和庞登斯这样的攻击型球员，这可能是他们缺乏进球的原因，但他们希望新来的小伙子和夏天签下的库尼亚能够尽快找到状态。

在新教练加里·奥尼尔的带领下，他们本赛季开局好坏参半。他为球队带来了一种结构和风格，我认为这是他们过去几个赛季所缺乏的。他们会建立防守，并试图在反击时进行惩罚。到目前为止，他们所缺乏的是在反击方面的领先优势。

对狼队来说不幸的是，他们面对的是在反击中拥有锋线优势的利物浦。

他们在第一轮输给曼联是非常不幸的，在最后一轮对阵水晶宫的比赛中，他们有一段疯狂的十分钟，至少让他们战平了一场。他们在埃弗顿赢得了一场至关重要的胜利，创造了迄今为止3负1胜的纪录。

奥尼尔可以从上一场在塞尔赫斯特公园的失利中得到一个积极的启示，那就是佩德罗-内托的表现，他为狼队的进球助攻了黄喜赞和马修斯-库尼亚。这位葡萄牙国脚本赛季在英超联赛中贡献了3次助攻，这是他在之前的一个赛季中创下的纪录，他在2020-21赛季贡献了6次助攻。

在最近37场未能保持零封(8平27负)的情况下，他们刚刚取得了2场胜利，并且自2月2-1击败南安普顿以来，他们在最近14场比赛中取得了3平11负的战绩。对于狼队来说，防守是一个真正的问题，奥尼尔仍在努力解决这个问题，前4轮丢了8个球，只有一场比赛是零(0:1对阵埃弗顿，主队的一个进球被VAR判罚无效，产生了1.07个预期进球)。

奥尼尔有一些伤病问题需要处理，周六他的阵容可能会有所不同。努内斯的下场为狼队在最后时刻的电车冲刺提供了资金，让-里纳·贝勒加德、汤米·道尔、恩索González和圣地亚哥·布埃诺都可以首发出场。

另一方面，利物浦以良好的状态进入国际比赛日，并且仍然保持不败。他们的中场很平衡，我认为克洛普在上一场比赛柯蒂斯·琼斯上场后还在微调中场，但他们似乎比前两场比赛少了很多。绍博什莱的表现令人印象深刻，他们希望他能毫发无损地从国家队比赛中归来。

在沙特的转会窗口后留下萨拉赫对他们来说是个好消息，我觉得他们可以把这些猜测抛在脑后，真正从这里开始。

公平地说，在经历了惨淡的2022-23赛季后，约<s:1>根·克洛普的手下看起来更像以前的自己了，他们肯定会成为冠军争夺者。

关键后卫伊布希马·科纳特伤愈复出，完全可以上场，这对取代停赛的范迪克是一个很好的推动。

对于那些在国际比赛日之后有很多球员的强队来说，回到客场比赛从来都不容易，但我希望利物浦能赢下这场比赛。最近关于萨拉赫的新闻，他在对阵狼队的13场比赛中打进8球，这意味着我有一种感觉，他将再次成为头条新闻，因为所有正确的理由。我希望利物浦能在萨拉赫进球的情况下以一球取胜。

09月16日狼队 VS 利物浦比赛分析直播