Liverpool get sweet revenge over Wolves

Sports - Football - Premier League - Wolves 0-3 Liverpool

Raul Meireles' breathtaking strike and Fernando Torres' double earned King Kenny his first win since taking over from Roy Hodgson and returning to his managerial throne at Liverpool as his Reds beat Wolves in an intense encounter at Molineux.

It was sweet revenge over Mick McCarthy's men, after they had beaten a sorry Liverpool side 1-0 at Anfield and ultimately cost Hodgson his job end of December.

Portuguese midfielder Meireles set the tone and mood for the Reds, making run after run, putting Wolves under pressure and turned from provider after 36 minutes with Torres tapping in his pass, to scorer with an impressive stunner, dipping 25-yard volley into the top corner of the net in the 50th minute, leaving Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey help- and hopelessly stranded.

Torres completed the trio of goals and points, smashing the ball into an empty Wolves net after a fine run and cross by Dirk Kuyt.

It was a hard-fought, well-deserved and overdue win for Liverpool which takes them to the top half of the table - at least for the night.

Wolves didn't go down easy. they tried to adopt the same positive anddedicated work and play from their Anfield win, to keep as much of and Liverpool off the ball.

But it didn't work this time round as the Reds seemed to have a different jump or flare about them, hopefully an indication of better mind, form and times ahead!

Wolves: Hennessey; Stearman, Ward, Berra, Zubar; Henry, Hunt (Hammill 72), Jarvis, Milijas; Fletcher, Doyle.
Subs not used: Hahnemann, Craddock, Mouyokolo, Jones, Davis, Vokes.

Liverpool: Reina; Johnson, Agger, Kelly, Skrtel; Meireles (booked 85), Maxi (Aurelio 81), Lucas, Poulsen (booked 4, Shelvey 73); Torres (booked 47), Kuyt.
Subs not used: Gulacsi, Kyrgiakos, Cole, Spearing, Pacheco.

BBC stats:
Wolves-Liverpool
Attempts: 12-15
On target: 5-10
Corners: 5-4
Free kicks: 17-6
Possession: 49%-51%

Sky Sports stats:
Wolves-Liverpool
Attempts: 11-14
On target: 3-9
Offsides: 3-2
Corners: 5-4
Free kicks: 18-6
Possession: 59.2%-40.8%
Passing Success: 70.1%-67.7%
Tackles/Success: 19/63.2%-21/76.2%
Territorial Advantage: 66%-34%

Referee: Martin Atkinson
Man of the match: Raul Meireles

Inapt Reds sunk by fighting Wolves

Sports - Football - Premier League - Liverpool 0:1 Wolverhampton

Last night at Anfield, Liverpool suffered their eighth league defeat of the season and are down to 12th, giving Wolves their first away win since March and lifting them off the bottom of the league table.

Mick McCarthy's men seemed more on the ball from the start, giving the home side only little of the ball and their fans little to sing about apart from sarcastic "Hodgson for England" chants.

Liverpool hadn't played since their 3-1 defeat at Newcastle on 11th December, but had their skipper Steven Gerrard back after his six-week injury layoff.

Little was to be seen of him and the home side's star striker Fernando Torres, with Wolves not giving the Reds over two seconds on the ball. Watching the game, it seemed that the Wolves were the hungrier fighters and the Reds were the struggling failures.

Glen Johnson was lucky to get away with just one booking, the Liverpool defender hugging and wrapping himself around the Wolves attack on more than one occasion.

The Wanderers took the lead on 56, thanks to Stephen Ward's fine finish after a mix-up between Red defenders Martin Skrtel and Sotirios Kyrgiakos handed Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's pass-ball through to the defender.

The goal, lead and result was more than deserved with the Wolves on top for most of the game and fighting hard against an absent and impotent Liverpool.

Skrtel saw his late headed strike hit the back of the net, but it was rightly disallowed as offside.

It is Wolves' first win at Anfield in 26 years, and they well and truely outplayed the home side. Roy Hodgson called it a bad day at the office.

It has been more than just a bad day this season, from what I have seen, I would call the whole side a total embarrassment full stop.

Or as the Wolves fans put it themselves, "How bad must you be? We're playing away"

Liverpool: Reina; Johnson (booked 76), Konchesky (Aurelio 73), Kyrgiakos, Skrtel; Meireles (Cole 73), Gerrard, Lucas, Kuyt; Torres, Ngog (Babel 62).
Subs not used: Jones, Agger, Maxi, Poulsen.

Wolves: Hennessey; Elokobi (booked 31), Stearman, Ward (scored 56, Fletcher 78), Berra; Zubar, Foley, Hunt, Jarvis (Edwards 89); Milijas, Ebanks-Blake.
Subs not used: Hahnemann, Batth, Jones, Mujangi Bia, Bent.

BBC stats:
Liverpool-Wolves
Attempts: 9-7
On target: 5-3
Corners: 2-8
Free kicks: 11-8
Possession: 55%-45%

Sky Sports stats:
Liverpool-Wolves
Attempts: 7-6
On target: 3-2
Offsides: 5-4
Corners: 2-8
Free kicks: 11-8
Possession: 56%-44%
Passing Success: 73.8%-64.5%
Tackles/Success: 16/68.8%-20/75%
Territorial Advantage: 39.9%-60.1%

Referee: Peter Walton
Man of the match: Stephen Ward

Premier League Tops and Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend

Top game: Manchester City against Chelsea was the battle of the riches. It was not the best display by the referee with some crucial errors that led to both City goals. It was a competitive encounter that could have gone either way, but City created most of the pressure and got Petr Cech sweating most throughout the match.

Top team: Manchester City ended up on top. Chelsea keeper Cech struggled to keep up with the pressure. Mark Hughes will be very happy to finally bank a win after the long run of draws and fans starting to doubting the credibility of the side and manager.

Top player: Shay Given was man of the match at the City ground, with a brilliant display and decsisive penalty save against one of the most consistent penalty takers Frank Lampard. Chelsea are starting to shake and leak, to the relief of their rivals and other title competitors. The race is long from over.

Top goal: Wolves' opener stunned Bolton. The more stunned they were when Nenad Milijas turned from provider to scorer with a devil of a strike for the second goal. From over 20 yards outside the box the swing left Jussi Jaaskelainen with no chance. Beauty.

Flop game: Liverpool's goalless draw against Blackburn was and is only worth a yawn...

Flop team: The team with the worst home record faced the side with the dimnest away record - and Portsmouth ended up on top. Burnley looked better but have to keep working on their travelling display.

Flop player: What was Steven Gerrard thinking? At least Martin Atkinson called it right as a dive and gave a free kick against him. But Phil Dowd was not as alert when Hermann Hreidarsson tried out his theatricals on him. Players do not help making the job easier for the referees, in a time where a growing majority call for video referees and stiffer penalties against whiners and divers, i.e. drama queens.

Flop goal: As mentioned above, Wolves' opener stunned Bolton, but looked offside, with three Wolves players clear of the defenders. In the end is was good fortune and play for Wolves and hard luck for Bolton. They had more than enough chances to not only equalise but to run away with all three points, Ivan Klasnic enjoying but missing most of the chances, the one goal he got on target was just not enough.

My Predictions - Actual Results

Arsenal 1:0 Stoke - 2:0

Aston Villa 2:0 Hull City - 3:0

Blackburn 0:0 Liverpool - 0:0

Man City 2:2 Chelsea - 2:1

Portsmouth 2:1 Burnley - 2:0

West Ham 1:1 Man Utd - 0:4

Wigan 1:0 Birmingham - 2:3

Wolves 2:3 Bolton - 2:1

Everton 1:1 Tottenham - 2:2

Fulham 3:0 Sunderland - 1:0

Premier League Tops and Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend

Top game: Without a doubt, the Manchester derby grabbed most of the attention and headlines. End to end stuff, seven goals, not all quality and glory but enough action and reactions to create a flood of laud and curses. The referee shared the main part of the spotlight at the end, questioned about his maths and the minutes he added on. Alex Ferguson's, the press' and United fans' delight, more disgust and distraught for Mark Hughes and the City fans; great entertainment for the neutrals.

Top team: Chelsea rode the show against Tottenham. Expecting a feisty and competitive match, many fans will have been disappointed. After a evenly matched beginning, the Blues broke loose and never looked back, coming through with flying colours. With 19 attempts against a dire 6, 10 to 2 on target, Tottenham never looked a threat. Wolves were brilliant, gave their 100 per cent againt Fulham and fully deserved the win with 12 attempts against 4.

Top player: All bandaged up after a clash of heads, Birmingham's Christian Benitez continued very lively and created chance after chance. Hull City's goalkeeper Boaz Myhill had plenty to do and made wonderful saves to frustrate Benitez and Birmingham. West Ham's Zavon Hines was just as much of a bug for Liverpool, creating pressure and getting decisions his way, of no avail in the end though, his side losing out to the Reds in contrast to Birmingham, who netted all three points.

Top goal: Burnley's David Nugent showed great confidence. The turn-finish to his shot, past two-three defenders, gave the goalkeeper no chance, consolidated the win for his side and his position in the side. Thomas Vermaelen's left-footer for Arsenal was sweet aswell, curled past Wigan's Chris Kirkland after a exchanging play with Emmanuel Eboue. Dave Kitson's diagonal diamond-finish from the left into the right corner was an excellent finish for Stoke, too.

Flop game: I think the Manchester derby had as much good points as bad and cringe-worthy. It is only thanks to defensive errors City got back into the match on all three occasions, the first goal gifted to them by Ben Foster, the second given away by Patrice Evra and the third by Rio Ferdinand. Meanwhile United had chance after chance, could have made it 5, 6, 7 or 8 if it would not have been for great stops and saves by Shay Given, Ryan Giggs and Dimitar Berbatov with most of the chances. For City then to be in such uproar about the time added on and the points lost due to the last-breath goals, seems very odd, as they would have been very lucky to get away with a point. For Hughes not to recognise that and moan on about the referee instead, ist sad.

Flop team: Tottenham were very disappointing to me as I thought they would make more of a competition and fight of the derby. Blackburn were just as weak, especially in set-pieces, leaving Everton with the easy job of just tap-ins. Both games ended 3-0 against them, something they will have to look into.

Flop player: Stoke's Ricardo Fuller got booked for diving but then won a soft free kick which was saved well by Bolton's Jussi Jaaskelainen. He was very annoying to watch, I felt he let out the drama queen a couple of times too often.

Flop goal: As mentioned above, all three Man City goals were lucky, capitalising off United mistakes and give-aways. It shows too though, that the top teams have their leaks and weaknesses. But then again, City obviously showed more of that, as it could have been a much more condemning result against them, if it were not for their goalkeeper.

My Predictions - Actual Results:
Arsenal 4:1 Wigan - 4:0
Aston Villa 2:0 Portsmouth - 2:0
Bolton 1:1 Stoke - 1:1
Burnley 1:0 Sunderland - 3:1
Hull City 1:1 Birmingham - 0:1
West Ham 1:3 Liverpool - 2:3
Chelsea 3:2 Tottenham - 3:0
Everton 1:2 Blackburn - 3:0
Man Utd 2:2 Man City - 4:3
Wolves 0:2 Fulham - 2:1