Liverpool suffers humiliating first as Premier League champions in Wolves nightmare

The Reds conceded an injury-time loss at Molineux, with Arne Slot admitting it "sums up" Liverpool's season. Two stats certainly underline that argument, with late goals proving hugely damaging

Liverpool conceded another injury-time goal against Wolves

Liverpool suffered a fresh Premier League setback on Tuesday as the Reds were beaten by bottom-place Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Arne Slot’s side headed into the encounter at Molineux having lost just two in 21, but was turned over by an improving Wolves team that has taken points off three of the top five in its last four league outings.

A dismal first half saw the score remain goalless at the interval, with Steven Gerrard among those to criticize the stale opening 45 minutes. Despite the improved standards after the break, and several offensive changes from Slot, it was Wolves that found the opening goal via Rodrigo Gomes in the 78th minute.

Liverpool found a way back into the game soon after with Mohamed Salah, who endured another frustrating night, finishing smartly with the outside of the foot to end his 10-match Premier League scoring drought.

But the reigning champions could not find a winning goal as the match moved beyond 90 minutes. Instead, it was Wolves that struck the decisive blow when Andre’s scruffy finish deflected off Joe Gomez and past Alisson.

It’s not the first time this season that a Liverpool match has been decided in injury-time, and a damning stat sums up the extent of that recurring issue.

It was another bruising night for Liverpool at Molineux(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

As per Opta, that was the fifth time Liverpool has conceded an injury-time winner, the most in Premier League history.

All three Liverpool defeats since late November have been decided by an injury-time winner - against Bournemouth, Manchester City and Wolves - while Liverpool also lost to Crystal Palace and Chelsea via the same method in successive fixtures during the autumn months.

Meanwhile, Wolves’ winner was the first time in Premier League history that a side in the relegation zone has scored an injury-time winner against the reigning champions.

Slot admitted the ending at Molineux “sums up” Liverpool’s season.

“Same old story,” the Dutchman said in his post-match press conference.

“Recently, we are picking up points because many times we’ve scored from set-pieces, but what did not change in the last five, six or seven games is that we struggle and find it very hard to score from the open-play chances that we do create.

“Not as many as I would like from all the ball possession we have, but enough and far more than the other team. But, end result, we score one and they score two – and indeed another time in extra time, so it sums up our season again in this game as well.”