The busy Christmas schedule in the Premier League is well underway. We are nearly at the halfway mark and matchweek 18 starts on Friday as Liverpool make the trip to the West Midlands to face Wolves.

STATS

• Wolves will be happy with how they have performed since their promotion from the Championship. They are 7^th in the table and have beaten both Manchester United and Chelsea and drawn against Man City. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have been in great form of late winning each of their last three games including a comfortable 2-0 win against Bournemouth in their last match.
• Liverpool will fancy their chances of winning the league this season as they are top of the Premier League heading into Christmas. They are yet to lose a league game with 17 wins and three draws so far this term. The Reds are currently on a run of six consecutive wins in the league and managed to beat Man United last time out with a 3-1 victory which ultimately cost Jose Mourinho his job at Old Trafford.
• One of the only criticisms of Wolves this season is their lack of a regular goalscorer, however, Raul Jimenez has five which isn’t a bad total at all.
• Despite having what many people have called a bad season, Mohamed Salah has still scored 10 league goals, no player has scored more in the English top-flight.

HEAD TO HEAD

Due to Wolves playing in lower divisions over the last several years, the meetings between the sides have been very few and far between. Although, they did meet a couple of seasons ago in the FA Cup where Liverpool were actually knocked out by an inferior Wolves side. That positive result has been in isolation though as the Reds have won five of the last seven league fixtures between the two sides. There have been over 2.5 goals in each of the last four but both teams have scored just twice.

WOLVES NEWS

Ahead of a busy Premier League weekend, Wolves can overtake Man United in the table and move into 6^th with victory. It is only Diogo Jota that is unavailable for the hosts as they look for an unlikely win.

Latest matches: Wolverhampton Wanderers

15.12.2018	Prem	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Bournemouth AFC	2:0	W
09.12.2018	Prem	Newcastle United	Wolverhampton Wanderers	1:2	W
05.12.2018	Prem	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Chelsea FC	2:1	W
30.11.2018	Prem	Cardiff City	Wolverhampton Wanderers	2:1	L
25.11.2018	Prem	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Huddersfield Town	0:2	L

LIVERPOOL NEWS

The visitors can extend their lead at the top to four points before Man City face Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon. They are without Trent Alexander-Arnold, James Milner, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and still Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for the important clash.

Latest matches: Liverpool FC

16.12.2018	Prem	Liverpool FC	Manchester United	3:1	W
11.12.2018	UEFA	Liverpool FC	SSC Napoli	1:0	W
08.12.2018	Prem	Bournemouth AFC	Liverpool FC	0:4	W
05.12.2018	Prem	Burnley FC	Liverpool FC	1:3	W
02.12.2018	Prem	Liverpool FC	Everton FC	1:0	W

SUMMARY

This year might finally be Liverpool’s but they are coming up against a very strong side on Friday night, one that has taken a substantial amount of points from teams inside the top six. Liverpool’s games are rarely uneventful so backing over 2.5 goals with both teams to score seems like a good bet that will yield good returns.