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• Slot 'still learning' as Liverpool face bottom side Wolves

  Arne Slot is "still learning" about his Liverpool players day by day as they prepare for Saturday's Premier League clash with Wolves at Molineux.

  The Reds suffered a shock 1-0 home loss to Nottingham Forest earlier this month, but they have otherwise impressed with four wins from five.

  Add an away win at AC Milan in the Champions League into the mix and Slot has made a near seamless start since succeeding Jurgen Klopp.

  The Dutchman has been pleased with the mentality of his players, who he is still getting to know in the early stages of his tenure.

  "Before the [Bournemouth] game I actually told the players that I am still learning from them day by day," he told the club website.

  "I had already seen their reaction to the defeat against Nottingham Forest and this was very positive, but reacting to a big win against one of Europe’s most historical clubs is also a test in its own way.

  "We had faced a similar situation after beating Manchester United and we followed that up with the loss to Forest so it was very pleasing to see us cope with these kind of challenges the way we did."

  Liverpool are second in the Premier League with 12 points from five matches, while Saturday's opponents Wolves are bottom with one point.

  The pressure is growing on boss Gary O'Neil following a fourth defeat in five outings at the hands of Aston Villa last weekend.

  Not helped by news of defender Yerson Mosquera being ruled out for the season, Wolves now face a daunting test against Liverpool.

  And O'Neil wants to see his players put on a fighting display in order to claw themselves off the foot of the table.

  "We're not going to dominate games against Aston Villa and Liverpool," he said. 

  "We need to behave and act like a team scrapping for everything. We have to make sure we are better when it gets tough."

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

  Wolves - Matheus Cunha 

  Cunha gave Wolves a lead they squandered against Villa last time out for his second goal in five Premier League appearances this season.

  Indeed, eight of his past 13 goals have either put his side ahead (twice) or drawn them level (six times), while his 21 goal involvements since the start of 2023-24 is the most of any Wolves player in the Premier League.

  Liverpool - Luis Diaz

  Diaz has hit a rich patch of form for Liverpool, having scored five goals and assisted another in his last four Premier League appearances.

  That includes a multiple-goal haul in two of his last three games, which is one more than he managed across his first 69 games in the competition.

  MATCH PREDICTION - LIVERPOOL WIN

  Wolves head into this contest badly out of form and have lost more Premier League games against Liverpool than they have any other opponent (16).

  In fact, they have lost 14 of their past 15 such encounters, the exception being a 3-0 home win in February 2023.

  Liverpool have kept a clean sheet in 65 per cent of their Premier League games against Wolves (13/20) and will fancy their chances of registering another shutout this weekend.

  The Reds have kept a clean sheet in five of their past six league games stretching back into last season, which follows a run of conceding in each of their previous 10.

  The opposite is true for Wolves as they are on the joint-longest run without a clean sheet in the division, failing to keep out the opposition in each of their past 17 top-flight games, level with Southampton.

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  Wolves - 15.4%

  Liverpool - 65.6%

  Draw - 19%

• Liverpool players fired up by quality competition, says Slot

  Liverpool's squad revel in the competition that quality players bring, so says Arne Slot.

  The Reds ran riot to beat West Ham 5-1 in the EFL Cup on Wednesday, teeing up a fourth-round meeting with Brighton.

  Slot, who has won all but one of his seven matches in charge of Liverpool, made plenty of changes for the tie, and though his team fell behind, they responded in emphatic fashion.

  Diogo Jota scored twice to turn the match on its head, with Mohamed Salah slamming home a third before West Ham capitulated following Edson Alvarez's red card – Cody Gakpo netting a late double.

  And Slot believes his players are only charged up by the competition within the squad.

  He told Sky Sports: "Players like to play, especially if you're winning. They like to be part of a winning group.

  "You know if you play at Liverpool, you play with quality players. It fires them to get the best out of each other."

  Liverpool finished with 2.55 expected goals (xG) to West Ham's 0.57, getting 21 of their 11 shots on target and creating six big chances.

  Reflecting on his side's display, Slot said: "If you're facing a team like West Ham, with a lot of quality, you know they can threaten you as well, they scored from a set-piece, they threatened us from set-pieces. Every [Premier League] team has quality players, it's never as easy as the scoreline shows.

  "In the end, we got numbers in our own 18-yard box, we did it really well. 

  "I do feel we had control. We had a large part of the possession, we had a few chances before we made it 3-1 through Mo, which was a great team goal, and he was so eager to score that he played the ball across and then followed the run and scored a great goal, then it was Cody time."

  Gakpo had a team-leading six shots, and Slot was thrilled with his compatriot's performance.

  "He deserved that, like the others deserved it as well," the Dutchman added. 

  "It was good to see – Cody has such a fantastic shot, we have to get him in those situations. Apart from that, he had an important clearance in our box, that's what I like to see – quality with the ball, work rate without the ball."

• Szczesny: It would be disrespectful not to consider Barcelona offer

  Wojciech Szczesny will listen to Barcelona's offer to tempt him out of retirement as it "would be disrespectful" not to.

  Fabrizio Romano reported on Wednesday that Szczesny is close to joining Barcelona to replace the injured Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

  The former Poland international, who only announced his retirement last month after leaving Juventus, is set to undergo a medical this week.

  While Szczesny fell short of confirming an agreement is in place with Barca, he indicated he would be open to a swift return to the sport.

  Speaking to Spanish outlet SPORT, the goalkeeper said: "I have a lot of respect for Barca's history; it is one of the best clubs in the world. 

  "I understand the difficult situation that's arisen after Marc-Andre Ter Stegen's injury. It'd be disrespectful of me not to consider this option."

  Barcelona are able to sign a free agent due to the severity of the injury sustained by first-choice goalkeeper Ter Stegen.

  The German is set to miss a number of months after undergoing surgery this week on a knee injury suffered against Villarreal last weekend.

  Szczesny agreed to mutually terminate his contract with Juve in August after a breakdown in negotiations over a move to Saudi club Al-Nassr.

  The 34-year-old, who played twice for Poland in their group-stage exit from Euro 2024, then went on to announce his retirement from playing.

  He won 11 major trophies during his career in England and Italy, while playing 84 times for Poland and featuring in seven major tournaments.

  Szczesny joined Arsenal as a 16-year-old in 2006, making 181 first-team appearances and winning two FA Cups in 2014 and 2015.

  After spending two seasons on loan at Roma, he then joined Juventus in 2017, winning eight major trophies, including three Serie A titles.

  Between his Serie A debut in August 2015 and the start of this season, the Pole boasted the fifth-most saves among goalkeepers to play at least 50 times (481) and the fifth-best save percentage in that time (72.55%).

  Only two goalkeepers in Serie A bettered Szczesny's 200 league appearances since his debut, though he conceded considerably fewer goals (179) than both Andrea Consigli (411) and Lukasz Skorupski (301) during that time. 

  Should he join Barcelona, Szczesny will provide competition for Inaki Pena, who replaced Ter Stegen against Villarreal is likely to start in goal against Getafe on Wednesday.