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Steven Gerrard's fifth and Yossi Benayoun's seventh goal of the season gave Liverpool a much
needed home victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield, and
saw them climb up a place to sixth in the Premier League
table.
The first half began with Liverpool dominating possession but they
were unable to open the scoring, the home side did have two early
chances but they failed to test Marcus Hahnemann in the
Wolverhampton Wanderers goal.
In the fifth minute Alberto Aquilani won the ball in the middle of
the pitch and fed Lucas Leiva who in turn found Fernando Torres,
the Spaniard laid the ball off to Steven Gerrard whose 25 yard
strike was easily saved by Marcus Hahnemann in the Wolves
goal.
Two minutes later it was Torres’ turn to test Hahnemann, Emiliano
Insua broke away but his pass pushed Torres very wide in the Wolves
area. Torres twisted and turned inside the area before firing his
shot at goal but Hahnemann was able to tip the ball over the
bar.
The visitors began to grow in confidence and started to have good
possession of their own, and created the three best chances of the
half. In the 21st minute Matthew Jarvis broke away down the left
wing, he took on Glen Johnson before crossing into Sylvain
Ebanks-Blake who turned and shot at goal but Jose Reina was able to
gather it comfortably.
A couple of minutes later Wolves had the clearest opportunity of
the match, Nenad Milijas curled a free kick goalwards but Reina
tipped it over the bar. From the resulting corner an unmarked Kevin
Doyle headed wide from three yards.
Wolves’ third opportunity in five minutes fell to Serbian Milijas;
Kevin Doyle flicked the ball over his head into the middle of the
pitch where the unmarked midfielder scuffed his shot wide of
Reina’s goal.
In the 29th minute Liverpool had the ball in the net, Gerrard
threaded a pass through the Wolves defence to Torres who clipped
the ball over Hahnemann only to be flagged offside. Despite a late
chance for Glen Johnson both sides went into the break
goalless.
Easy does it| Yossi Benayoun seals the win
The first chance of the second half fell to Yossi Benayoun, the
Israeli midfielder was picked out superbly by Aquilani but he
failed to control the ball and the ball was cleared by Stephen
Ward.
In the 49th minute Liverpool had their best move of the match which
resulted in Insua finding Gerrard unmarked on the edge of the box;
but the England midfielders shot was well saved by Hahnemann
Two minutes later Wolves fullback Stephen Ward fouled Lucas on the
edge of the visitors’ penalty area, the referee Andre Mariner gave
the free kick but bizarrely issued a yellow card to Christophe
Berra.
However after consulting with his linesman the referee corrected
his decision and gave Ward his second booking and his marching
orders.
A much more confident Liverpool then grabbed the game by the scruff
of its neck and in the 61st minute they took the lead. Insua
slipped free from his marker and delivered an accurate cross to the
centre of the goal where Steven Gerrard rose
highest to power a header into the net.
Liverpool doubled their lead in the 69th minute, a deep cross from
Fabio Aurelio found Yossi Benayoun unmarked on the
right of the penalty area. The midfielder brought the ball under
control brilliantly before turning onto his left foot and firing
goalwards. The shot took slight deflection off Karl Henry which
took the shot away from Hahnemann and into the top of the
net.
Benayoun could have scored his second in the 77th minute, after a
neat passing move Aquilani found Johnson on the right wing but from
the cross Benayoun headed over the bar.
Wolves never gave up in the remaining 13 minutes but they were
unable to create any clear chances to test Reina in the Liverpool
goal.
Liverpool ended the game as they started it, in control of
possession, and although they created a chance for Fernando Torres
they were happy to retain possession and hold onto their
victory.