Liverpool FC commence their 2019 FA Cup campaign with a visit to Wolverhampton Wanderers, a side that has been very up and down lately; and pretty much all season. Wolves, who currently sit ninth in the Premier League table, lost to 14th place Crystal Palace on Wednesday, after having beaten third place Tottenham Hotspur last Saturday.
On Boxing Day they were only able to manage a draw against 19th place Fulham, so who knows what kind of performance we’ll see from them on Monday night. This is a difficult tie to size up, but expect manager Jurgen Klopp to rotate his squad some and rest of a few of his regulars.
Of course, knowing the intensity of Klopp’s personality, and his inability to totally tone it down, expect his side to have some measure of strength.
The Bank Liverpool FC Starting XI Prediction vs Wolverhampton Wanderers FA Cup Third Round (4-3-3)
Forwards: Xherdan Shaqiri, Divock Origi, Daniel Sturridge
Midfielders: Naby Keita, Fabinho, Adam Lallana
Back line: Alberto Moreno Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Dejan Lovren, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Goalkeeper: Simon Mignolet
Liverpool FC at Wolverhampton Wanderers FA Cup 3rd Round FYIs
Kick-off: 7:45 pm (BST), Monday January 7, Molineux
Injury report for both teams: go to this link
Series History: Wolverhampton wins- 50, draws- 17, Liverpool FC wins- 35
Prediction: Liverpool FC 2, Wolverhampton 1
As always, feel free to post your own final score predictions as well as your Liverpool and/or Wolverhampton starting XI predictions.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.