Liverpool rounded off 2025 with a win over a struggling Wolves.
Ryan Gravenberch put the hosts ahead late in the first half by meeting Jeremie Frimpong’s cutback inside the penalty area with a first-time finish.
The Reds were soon two goals to the good as Florian Wirtz opened his account after dinking the ball over Jose Sa from a Hugo Ekitike pass.
But the visitors halved their deficit shortly after the interval when Santiago Bueno converted the rebound after Alisson parried Tolu Arokodare’s effort.
Arne Slot’s side moved up to fourth in the Premier League after a fourth straight win and their seventh game unbeaten in all competitions.
Here were the key talking points from Anfield:
Reds end a year like no other
To say Liverpool are relieved to see the back of 2025 is an understatement.
For all the joy that a 20th Premier League title triumph brought, the past 12 months at Anfield have been more synonymous with turmoil and tragedy.
Wolves’ visit on Saturday brought the latter into sharp focus in the first meeting between the teams since Diogo Jota’s untimely summer passing.
His two sons Dinis and Duarte accompanied players onto the pitch with other young family members, all of them in shirts bearing his retired number 20.
Another poignant moment in the first half saw travelling fans chant his name on 18 minutes before Anfield began into its own ritual tribute two minutes later.
The trials and tribulations that Arne Slot’s fallen champions face on the pitch remain accompanied by the shadow of the Portugal international’s death.
They will likely be for some time, too; grief is not linear and neither is the healing process the much-missed forward’s teammates are still navigating.
It is testament to the high standards that Jota helped set in the Liverpool dressing room that this often remains overlooked as this season progresses.
Set-piece strategy hits new low
True to form, Liverpool remain out of step with the rest of the Premier League.
But for once, conformity would actually be preferable to marching to the beat of their own drum when it comes to the ongoing trend around set pieces.
At both ends of the pitch, dead-ball situations fail to bring out the best in Slot’s charges with their susceptibility to conceding from them laid bare once more.
Rob Edwards’ basement dwellers, winless in the league all season, inflicted a 12th goal from the tactic courtesy of Santiago Bueno’s second-half rebound.
Previously, only Bournemouth shipped more set piece goals than Liverpool this season yet wriggled off that hook despite a 4-1 thrashing at Brentford.
Aaron Briggs’ elevation to a specialist role overseeing the pattern of play has become easy meat for even the top flight’s worst-ever team after 18 games.
There is a limited scope in what the former development coach can influence from his brief spells in the technical area observing corners and free kicks.
Still, there can be no denying that Liverpool’s set-piece strategy simply is not working and at some stage, Slot will need to consider alternative methods.
Chiesa clamour isn’t rewarded
All eyes were on Florian Wirtz after his belated first Liverpool goal.
The German playmaker’s late first-half striker had been a long time coming and served almost as vindication of the club’s high-roller transfer strategy.
His predecessor as Anfield’s marquee summer signing knows all about the pitfalls that come with lofty expectations, even if on a more modest price tag.
That, however, is where the comparisons between Wirtz and Federico Chiesa begin and end after the Italian’s first-ever home league outing in a red shirt.
The forward’s cult status among Kopites had seen an increased clamour for him to be handed an extended run in the side amid absences and injuries.
Mohamed Salah’s involvement at the Africa Cup of Nations offered Chiesa a chance to make the right wing his own but was peripheral to say the least.
In the Italian’s defence, his best work has been off the substitutes’ bench rather than heading towards it, as he did in making way for Conor Bradley.
There were signs Chiesa can work in a starting berth in the early-season Carabao Cup win over Southampton, but it is hardly a natural fit for him.