LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) – Virgil van Dijk and forward Mohamed Salah scored second-half goals as Liverpool battled to a 2-0 Premier League home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday to boost their hopes of European football next season.
Liverpool climbed into sixth spot in the table on 39 points, ahead of Fulham on goal difference and with a game in hand, but the home side were forced to work hard on a rainy night at Anfield.
The best chances of the opening 45 minutes fell to teenaged Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott, who steered a header just wide in the 39th minute and then followed that up with a bouncing stoppage-time shot that was turned away for a corner.
Darwin Nunez had the ball in the net for the home side in the 66th minute after a surging run by Diogo Jota, but the Portuguese striker was deemed to have fouled Max Kilman in the build-up after a VAR review and the goal was chalked off.
Van Dijk finally broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute, forcing a save with his initial header from a set piece, before Jota put the rebound back across the goal for the Dutchman to head home from close range.
Four minutes later Salah used his right thigh to steer home a cross from Kostas Tsimikas to double his side’s advantage and take the wind out of the visitors’ sails as Liverpool made it three wins in their last four Premier League games.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Toby Davis)
