Wolves’s André stuns Liverpool with last-gasp winner to pile pain on Arne Slot

Only five days earlier Rob Edwards had streamed down the touchline and pulled his calf, he said, celebrating Wolves’s second goal in a rare victory against rivals Aston Villa. This time he cut loose again deep into six minutes of second-half stoppage time, as André’s deflected strike floored Liverpool. Edwards booted a ball off a pitch-side cone and went to drink in the moment with the locals. Joe Gomez dragged his red Liverpool shirt over his face. Arne Slot was punch-drunk. Liverpool were beaten by the league’s bottom club.

Wolves had stunned the visitors by taking the lead with 12 minutes of regular time to play, Rodrigo Gomes’s clinical finish capping a well-worked attack that Virgil van Dijk will not want to see again in a hurry. Liverpool were toiling but then, after another anonymous display, Mohamed Salah came to life with an equaliser.

In the buildup to this match Slot spoke about wrestling with his football heart, acknowledging the spike in set-piece goals in the Premier League this season has left him a little cold, even if his side have been the biggest beneficiaries of late; Liverpool have scored a league-high nine goals from set plays this calendar year. The goals from open play had dried up, Slot said, and Liverpool needed to remedy their struggles if they are to make sure of a Champions League berth.

Liverpool have been unconvincing of late, the 5-2 scoreline flattering them last time out against West Ham and before that they smuggled a late win at Nottingham Forest. The 47 first-half minutes against the league’s bottom club offered little encouragement that Liverpool are anywhere near rediscovering their best attacking form. There were more signs that Salah’s powers are waning and Liverpool generally laboured to the interval. The visitors mustered two shots on goal, Cody Gakpo firing straight at José Sá and Dominik Szoboszlai winding up and taking aim from 35 yards with a speculative effort.

Jeremie Frimpong, who returned from a groin injury in place of Joe Gomez, wasted one of their better openings, ballooning over after a fine run by Hugo Ekitiké. The French forward gathered the ball on the left, collecting possession in one half and galloping into the other, skinning Matt Doherty, the Wolves captain, as he went. Ekitiké piled infield but after handing the baton on, Frimpong skied his effort from just inside the 18-yard box.

The most heartwarming moment of the match occurred on 18 minutes, as Wolves and Liverpool supporters launched into applause and sang the name of Diogo Jota, who wore the No 18 shirt across three years at Molineux, this the first meeting here between the teams since his death last summer. The chants continued into the 20th minute and the Liverpool fans in the away end unfurled a banner: “Obrigado Diogo, forever our number 20.”

Szoboszlai was again probably Liverpool’s best performer. Salah struggled. Van Dijk flighted a magnificent diagonal pass for Salah, who raced into the box, played onside by Santiago Bueno. But Salah’s first touch when trying to take the ball on his left boot was clunky and he tumbled to the ground as Ladislav Krejci, one of three Wolves changes, reported for duty. Just after the half-hour, Szoboszlai threaded the ball through to Salah after nipping the ball through the legs of João Gomes but the Egyptian quickly ran out of road.

Something had to change and Slot tweaked personnel at half-time, introducing Curtis Jones in place of Ryan Gravenberch. Jones was immediately in the thick of things and surely would have helped the ball in at a 50th-minute corner had Gakpo not intervened. It was a strange episode, one symptomatic of Liverpool’s struggles, even if this was from a dead-ball scenario. Ekitiké flicked the ball on at the front post and at the back post Jones was lurking, at which point Gakpo stuck out his right boot and hooked the ball against Jones’s chest. Sá was behind his own goalline as the ball looped up against the underside of the crossbar. Milos Kerkez waited for the leftovers but the ball dropped beyond him.

Liverpool were brighter at least, though the more frustrated they grew, the more confidence flowed through the Wolves players. If anything typified the mood among the hosts, it was the sight of the again impressive 18-year-old Mateus Mané and André teaming up to dispossess Alexis Mac Allister. Moments later, however, Liverpool showed more signs of life, Ekitiké squaring the ball into the six-yard box, only for Krejci to extinguish the danger.

Slot turned to Rio Ngumoha and Andy Robertson from the bench in place of Gakpo and Kerkez. Salah stayed on and spooned a first-time shot into the stands. Wolves exhibited the composure of champions to seize the lead on 78 minutes. Tolu Arokodare got between Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté and expertly laid the ball off for an advancing Rodrigo Gomes. Konaté tried to make amends but Gomes toe-poked the ball, lifting his shot over a stunned Alisson.

Ngumoha was the catalyst for Liverpool’s win at Forest and struck a post but it was the old entertainer Salah who almost rescued Liverpool, beating Sá with a shot with the outside of his left boot. Yet it was Wolves who landed the final blow.