Premier League preview: Liverpool v Wolves

Liverpool will look to continue their impressive league form at Anfield against bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton on Wednesday.

Roy Hodgson’s men, unbeaten at home in the league since they lost 2-1 to Blackpool in early October, have also enjoyed 3-0 wins at Anfield over West Ham United and Aston Villa in that period.

The Reds take on Wolves, Bolton and Blackburn in the next week and Brazilian left-back Fabio Aurelio believes strong performances can help force the club back into top four reckoning.

“We are getting back towards the fortress that Anfield has been for Liverpool in the past,” Aurelio told the Liverpool FC website.

“It’s hard to set a long-term target at the moment. The situation is that every game is very important. It’s a very busy period and if we can win three or four games that can make a very big difference to the table.”

“With a good run of results you can quickly change your position. So that is what we are looking to do and hopefully we can look at it again at the start of January.”

The Reds have not played a league match since December 11 when they were beaten 3-1 by Newcastle United.

The postponement of the Blackpool game means Liverpool could play up to nine matches in January.Wolves crashed to the bottom of the table after losing 2-1 at home to Wigan Athletic on Boxing Day.

Mick McCarthy’s strugglers have picked up just one point on their travels all season and that was at Everton back in August.

Aurelio, however, insists Wolves should not be taken lightly despite their plight.

“These types of teams defend deep and make it difficult for you to create opportunities,” he added.

“But we have been scoring a lot of goals at home and that’s very positive for us.”

“Hopefully we can get an early goal and that will help us through the game. If we do score early they will need to go forward and that will leave more space for us.”

McCarthy remains upbeat that Wolves will win their survival battle and believes there is still time to turn things around despite facing trips to Liverpool and West Ham before hosting champions Chelsea.

“My confidence doesn’t get knocked as easily now and I’m not going to let one performance change it,” said the boss, who insisted he will go all-out to win at Liverpool.

But, asked about the psychological effect on the players of being bottom of the table, McCarthy admitted he is concerned.

“I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll have to see how that affects us all but we need points and will have to try to win at Liverpool.”

“But there are plenty of games left and who’s to say we can’t go and win at Liverpool? Liverpool didn’t play (at Blackpool) so they’ll have had extra time to prepare, but we’ll see if that’s an advantage. We’ll go there and try to win it.”