You know the old saying: “familiarity breeds contempt.” Wolverhampton Wanderers will host Liverpool FC for the second time in four days on Friday night, this time in the FA Cup round of 16/fifth round. Wolves took the first meeting, a Premier League fixture, by the score of 2-1 last night. It was an interesting match in the fact that all of the scoring came from the 78′ onward. So it was a “late bloomer” kind of match, in that all the action happened later on. The team news situation, for both sides, remains largely the same, but we Liverpool manager Arne Slot did provide an update on Florian Wirtz.
FA Cup Round of 16 FYIs
Liverpool at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Kickoff: Friday March 6, Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, UK
Team News for Both Sides
Reds boss Arne Slot has all but ruled Florian Wirtz out for this match.
“Again, not anything different than what I said after the (5-2 win over West Ham United) game,” said Slot.
“The game tomorrow will probably come too soon, and maybe the game in the weekend as well, but let’s see how it ends up. But we hope to have him back somewhere next week.”
So perhaps he’ll return for the Champions League clash at Galatasaray next week. Meanwhile Alex Isak remains out until next month, with Wataru Endo, Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley of course remaining out for the season.
Enso Gonzalez Medina (knee) remains the only injury absentee for Wolves.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.