Six things spotted in Wolves vs Liverpool as Divock Origi saves Diogo Jota after horror miss

Liverpool's excellent post-November international break form continued thanks to Divock Origi, who popped up with a winning goal late in the day once again.

It had looked like that winning run was going to come to an end with a frustrating goalless draw with Wolves in the Midlands — with the Reds' final ball deserting them on countless occasions.

But the Belgian's late moment of quality could now have set up a pivotal point in Liverpool's season.

With West Ham having beaten Chelsea by the same scoreline at the London Stadium as they beat the Reds by a few weeks ago (3-2), this was a big chance to capitalise on that and move top of the Premier League — at least momentarily until Man City take on Watford at Vicarage Road.

But Liverpool looked like they were going to miss that chance after Diogo Jota had a nightmare in front of goal and even Mohamed Salah's touch looked poor.

Instead, Origi set up what feels like a huge three points for Jürgen Klopp's men.

Here are the six things Liverpool.com spotted as the game unfolded.

Origi leaves it late AGAIN

Just when it looked like it was going to be too late in the day, Origi did it again. That is three goals in six appearances against Liverpool's opponents, who were finally broken down at the last.

If Liverpool were going to win the game, it was going to be by a single goal the way things were going.

That could be a massive moment in the campaign.

Diogo Jota with miss of the season

Bizarrely booed by the Wolves crowd, Jota, who turns 25 today, endured a frustrating half in the first 45 minutes, heading one chance wide and finding space tough to find against the home side's back three.

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But he did slide Sadio Mané in for the best opening of the game when the Senegalese squared to Mohamed Salah.

The second half was equally as frustrating for him, not least with the miss of the season. José Sá collided with one of his defenders and the Portugal international only had to put the ball in the net, but he could only hit Conor Coady who was on the goalline.

An extraordinary miss — and almost a massively costly one too.

Salah kept quiet

Mohamed Salah had scored more goals than Wolves heading into the game and in the first half should have extended that record even further.

The Egyptian was inches away from poking into an empty net when the ball was squared to him by Mané, only for Romain Saïss' exceptional tackle to deny him a tap-in.

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But Rayan Aït-Nouri dealt superbly with him for the most part, always sticking tight to the Liverpool number 11, whose touch often deserted him.

Every way he turned, Aït-Nouri was there to block him and halt his progress.

Only when Aït-Nouri had gone off with cramp did Liverpool score. No coincidence.

Weather conditions cause chaos

Even before the game had kicked off, Jürgen Klopp's pre-match interview for television was interrupted by the wind blowing over the advertising board behind the Reds boss.

The tricky conditions were a theme of the game, with Aït-Nouri slicing a pass back into his own penalty area early on in the game — Liverpool were claiming for a back pass they were never getting — and the Frenchman was the first of many to have a few problems.

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Liverpool struggled on numerous occasions to play out from the back with Joël Matip and Virgil van Dijk both giving the ball away cheaply at times, but the wind was likely a significant contributing factor in that.

That is no excuse for the missed chances, though.

Adama Traoré frustrates

The Spanish winger only has five goal contributions in his last 50 Premier League games, but the Liverpool defence was a little nervy against him at times.

Other than the 25-year-old, Wolves' counter-attacking threat was limited on the day, but credit for that should go to the Reds.

As ever, Traoré has all the talent in the world but no end product to go with it.

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Thiago settles in

Thiago Alcântara was made for matches like these, where the opponent sits deep and defends as well as Wolves did at Molineux.

His through passes were not aided by the wind, but he looked far more at home in this game and was helping Liverpool stay patient in the centre of the midfield.

He was also crucial a couple of times when nicking the ball off Traoré — easier said than done — and did an excellent defensive job.

There was one moment where he almost played Wolves through on goal, only to be saved by Alisson, but the midfielder was largely excellent across the course of the match.

Ultimately, it was not he who directly scored the goal to take home the three points, but it was another promising showing that warranted more than a single frustrating point.

If anyone deserved the late winner, it was him.

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