Dominik Szoboszlai’s superb strike helped Liverpool into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup as they came from behind to beat Championship Leicester 3-1.

The hosts were stunned when Kasey McAteer fired the Foxes in front in only the third minute.

But sustained pressure from Jurgen Klopp’s side eventually told as Cody Gakpo levelled before Szoboszlai came off the bench to put them in front with an unstoppable shot in the 70th minute.

Diogo Jota added a third in the 89th minute and it was no less than Liverpool, winners of this competition a record nine times, deserved after they poured forward in response to the early setback, having 27 attempts at goal in all.

McAteer’s early goal remained Leicester’s only shot on target by the final whistle.

Jurgen Klopp had made 10 changes to the side that beat West Ham 3-1 at the weekend to maintain their impressive start to the Premier League campaign but Enzo Maresca, whose side are top of the Championship as they eye an instant return to the top flight, matched him with just as many.

And the in-form visitors silenced the windswept Anfield crowd as a Liverpool free-kick turned into a Leicester goal.

Kostas Tsimikas’ delivery was punched clear and the Greece defender was left in a heap by Marc Albrighton as Yunus Akgun raced clear before slipping the perfect ball into the path of 21-year-old academy product McAteer, who had time to pick a spot for his fifth goal of the season.

A Liverpool response was guaranteed, but Wataru Endo, making his third start since joining from Stuttgart, fired a shot narrowly wide before Harry Souttar blocked Gakpo’s shot after neat passing cut open Leicester’s defence.

The following corner was worked short to find Jota at the far post but the Portuguese forward fell over the ball before Jakub Stolarczyk blocked Ben Doak’s shot as the 17-year-old picked up the pieces.

Doak then went even closer from the next corner, hitting the crossbar on the rebound as Stolarczyk could only parry a shot from Liverpool’s 20-year-old defender Jarell Quansah.

Gakpo thought he had equalised in the 22nd minute as he headed Tsimikas’ free-kick goalwards but Conor Coady – belatedly making his Leicester debut at his boyhood club following injury – scrambled it off the line.

A mistake from Ricardo Pereira led to Liverpool’s next opportunity as helost control inside the area and Harvey Elliott played in Gakpo, but his shot was deflected over.

Liverpool trailed at the break despite having 15 shots to Leicester’s two, but needed only three minutes of the second half to level.

Ryan Gravenberch, making his first Anfield start, fizzed in a pass to Gakpo, who stuck out a leg to control with his back to goal before twisting to find the bottom corner of the net.

Liverpool were firmly on top now and Gakpo should have had a second just before the hour, getting a glancing header on Elliott’s cross but watching it hit the underside of the crossbar and bounce down on to the line before Leicester cleared.

Both managers turned to their benches to strengthen, with Maresca sending on Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Patson Daka, while Klopp called on Szoboszlai and Darwin Nunez.

Klopp was the manager to see his moves pay off as within five minutes of coming on, Szoboszlai unleashed an unstoppable shot into the top left-hand corner from the edge of the D.

Liverpool continued to pile on the pressure, and Jota sealed it in the 89th minute as he flicked Quansah’s low cross in off the inside of the post.

Liverpool assistant boss Pep Lijnders believes they will take on a Premier League quality team in Leicester in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

The Championship leaders, who look set to vie for an immediate return to the top flight under new coach Enzo Maresca, will make the trip to Anfield for a third-round tie.

Lijnders took over the hotseat from Jurgen Klopp for the pre-match press conference, and he said: “We know we’re going to play against a team that has a lot of individual quality.

“It shows how they are doing in the league. A real clear offensive game idea, very quick installation of this idea with the coach Enzo – he does an unbelievable job. I think each player could play in the Premier League.

“It will be really hard for us to get control of their key players and at the same time put them under pressure. As always in each game we will focus on ourselves.

“Of course we will make changes but we want to put our game into place, we want to be dominant, we want to be in their half of the pitch.”

The game will come too soon for Trent Alexander-Arnold, who Lijnders said “looked outstanding” on his return to training on Monday following a hamstring injury.

Midfielder Thiago Alcantara, who is yet to make an appearance this season, is back on the grass but is working individually.

There could be another chance, though, for 17-year-old winger Ben Doak, who started last week’s Europa League match in Linz.

Lijnders cited his Dutch heritage while discussing Doak’s potential, saying: “He is young so a lot of things can happen.

“I had the privilege to grow up in Holland and we have this culture, a long tactical culture of Johan Cruyff. This idea of having the wingers on the outside, they can create, can really disorganise the opposition, use the speed.

“Then, if you get a young winger from Scotland but only 17 years old and he has this capacity to create and to reach the final line with individual movement, it’s nice to see.

“The good thing about Ben in my opinion is he comes into a squad with so much senior authority. He will never make a sidestep, the boys will already tell him.

“He has this great low gravity and that’s how he can control the ball better. So he’s a really interesting player but loads to come, he needs to mature, he needs to listen to Robbo (Andy Robertson), to Mo Salah, to all these guys that are trying to help him.

“And I think it’s really good for the older players to have young players with this hunger. That combination is what we always had and that’s how we want to construct the squad.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hailed the “massive steps” striker Darwin Nunez has made already this season after his key contribution in the 3-1 win over West Ham.

The Uruguay international’s fourth goal of the season – which keeps him level with Mohamed Salah, who netted the opening penalty – was pivotal in turning the match the hosts’ way after Jarrod Bowen’s diving header had restored parity.

Substitute Diogo Jota’s late goal made sure of a fifth successive Premier League victory to move the Reds into second place in the table, but it was Nunez’s all-round display that particularly caught the eye, his brilliant volley the game’s standout moment.

“He has made massive steps in the last few weeks. He is a threat. You all saw the goal, that was probably pretty good, right? That was really strong,” Klopp said.

“Incredible. Everybody is looking at me when I talk about the goals but these eyes – I saw it only once – can’t wait to see it properly back.

“He was always available. It’s super-important for us now that we have a ball player: chip the ball (into him), get it on the chest and play from there.

“That’s how we scored the third goal at Wolves, super-important for us. The defensive work he puts in is probably the main difference.

“He always wanted (to do it) but it was less coordinated. Now that looks much better.

“We have found a way to do it around him, Curtis (Jones) and Dom (Dominik Szoboszlai) help a lot, how flexible they are in that way. It’s really good, absolutely.”

In the end the result was comfortable but for long periods that was not the case as a resilient West Ham always posed a threat and were good at breaking up Liverpool’s momentum.

“It was expected. A difficult game; some very good moments in the first half but we were not enough in control to deny them completely.

“I really thought we played good in different phases, lost some balls we shouldn’t have lost, but we scored our goal which was a super counter-attack.

“When they scored, I was not completely surprised. We should have defended it better, that’s clear. The most important is you stay in the game and that’s what we did in the second half.

“We controlled much better and gave them a proper challenge. We really caused them some problems and we scored some super goals.”

West Ham manager David Moyes, who has yet to win in 20 career visits to Anfield, was frustrated his side could not hold on for longer at 1-1.

“We did a pretty good job in first half. We created a few chances in the first half,” he said.

“We were probably trying to offer them problems and until the penalty I thought we had a really good grasp of the game.

“I thought Liverpool counter-attacked us more than we did to them because we had really good control of the game.

“You might come here and only get three chances and they will get 10 and have to hope they will miss nine and we take two.

“I was disappointed with the second goal. Lots of positives to take but more disappointed with the second and third goal, probably more the third.”

Moyes has also dismissed the chances of re-signing former midfielder Jesse Lingard, who trained with the club after leaving Nottingham Forest as a free agent in the summer, with the player now seemingly destined for Saudi Arabia.

“I am quite comfortable, more than relaxed with it,” he added. “We like Jesse a lot, I just don’t know if we need another player in the position.”

Darwin Nunez’s evolution into a genuine number nine for Liverpool continues as his brilliant fourth goal of the season proved vital in securing a 3-1 home victory over West Ham.

The Uruguay international scored in back-to-back games for the first time since February as Jurgen Klopp’s side made it five successive Premier League wins to move into outright second spot, behind champions Manchester City, with Arsenal and Tottenham drawing at the Emirates.

Captain Virgil van Dijk had spoken of the 24-year-old turning his potential into quality after the midweek Europa League win over LASK, in which Nunez scored a penalty but could have had a couple of others.

His rasping 60th-minute volley from an exquisite Alexis Mac Allister lofted pass restored their lead after Jarrod Bowen’s diving header in the first half had cancelled out Mohamed Salah’s penalty, his 12 goal in his last 13 appearances at Anfield.

Substitute Diogo Jota made the points safe late on as Liverpool scored at least three goals in their opening three home league games for only the second time in the last 43 years.

But it was Nunez who caught the eye with his improving integration into a team which for so long played with a false nine in Roberto Firmino.

His hold-up play gets better and, after that helped Liverpool take the lead in Austria in midweek, he was at it again in the build-up to Salah’s penalty.

He launched a rapid counter-attack on the left after holding up the ball on the halfway line before releasing Luis Diaz and then charging 60 yards into the area in an attempt to get on the end of the return pass.

He failed to do so but Salah was following up behind him and, having nicked it past Nayef Aguerd, he was tripped by the West Ham centre-back, who looked suitably sheepish having given away such a soft spot-kick.

West Ham could have been two goals up by that point as Alisson had to scramble low to his right to keep out a Tomas Soucek header and was then relieved to see Michail Antonio wastefully direct a header wide from 10 yards.

From another counter-attack Mac Allister dragged a shot wide and Salah miscued a shot from Van Dijk’s diagonal pass but almost inadvertently found Nunez.

Liverpool were threatening to take the game away from the visitors, who have won only once at Anfield in 50 visits, and, had Salah slotted home after Mac Allister, Diaz and Dominik Szoboszlai combined, it would have been their goal of the season so far.

But David Moyes’ side are made of stern stuff, with their physical approach often infuriating the majority of those at Anfield, and when Soucek’s scuffed shot was deflected wide it showed danger was still present.

They equalised three minutes from half-time from a goal which came almost out of nothing. Bowen won the initial header from an aimless aerial ball and Vladimir Coufal swung in a cross which the Hammers forward dived low in front of Van Dijk to direct inside the far post.

A delightful Szoboszlai chip over the top saw Curtis Jones volley home only to be denied by the offside flag while another counter-attack saw Salah slide in Nunez, whose angled shot was claimed at the second attempt by Alphonse Areola.

After the break West Ham reduced the game to a level Liverpool were uncomfortable with but the hosts still created chances, Nunez’s snap-shot going wide after Salah managed to find space between two markers to pick him out 12 yards out.

It was the sighter the Kop’s new cult hero needed as he then lashed home Mac Allister’s delicate 15-yard chip which dropped invitingly somewhere near the penalty spot.

Jones’ deflected shot was acrobatically tipped over by Areola, who then saved at the feet of Diaz, before Jota extended Moyes’ win-less career run at Anfield to 20 visits by stabbing home from close range after Van Dijk’s knockdown from an 85th-minute corner.

Virgil van Dijk believes striker Darwin Nunez is starting to realise the potential which persuaded Liverpool to spend a possible club-record transfer fee on him.

The Uruguay international endured a testing start to life at Anfield and although he scored 16 goals, the feeling remained he had underperformed.

He has already played a significant part this season, scoring two late goals as a substitute to beat Newcastle, and with Mohamed Salah on the bench he took responsibility for equalising through a penalty in their eventual 3-1 Europa League victory over LASK in Austria.

Nunez has three goals and two assists this season but his all-round influence has been felt more than just from that contribution.

The Uruguayan, who had missed a couple of earlier chances but was denied a certain goal by a brilliant point-blank save by goalkeeper Tobias Lawal in the first half, also played a role in the second goal with his hold-up play on the halfway line.

Liverpool’s captain believes the 24-year-old is developing into the striker they hoped they were getting when they paid Benfica an initial £64million, which could rise to £85m, last summer.

“Everyone has a role to play whether you start or not. Everyone has now seen the potential and the quality he has.

“Against LASK Darwin was important with the goal. Long may it continue, and with the other boys as well.

“Up front, the competition is quite good. They all have to push each other and it’s good to see.”

One of those “other boys” – quite literally – was Ben Doak who became Liverpool’s fourth-youngest European player with his first start at the age of 17 years and 314 days.

The young Scot was given a run in Salah’s right-wing position and showed flashes of his talent despite being starved of opportunities in a poor first-half performance by the team.

“It was a big night for him,” added Van Dijk. “It was never going to be easy, it was a difficult pitch, but he could have set up at least two goals in the first half where he went past his man like no one was there but unfortunately nobody was on the end of it.

“I am pleased for him and I’m also very excited for him and the future that’s coming.

“You’ve seen in the last couple of weeks, if you watch closely it’s a fantastic group to be part of.

“We have a lot of quality, a lot of younger players, players who are getting new roles and they are enjoying that as well.

“But at the end of the day football is about results. Everybody wants to play their best football each and every game, but sometimes you have to find a way, like we did at Wolves (coming back from conceding first again to win 3-1).

“On Thursday it was after we conceded a set-piece, we showed that we stayed calm and found a way as well.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists it is too soon to say his “mentality monsters” have returned but he has been impressed by how they have handled adversity so far this season.

The 3-1 Europa League victory over LASK in Austria was the fourth time in six matches this season the team have bounced back from going behind.

However, despite the early setbacks they have yet to concede a goal after the 37th minute and strong second-half performances have seen them turn things around against Bournemouth, Newcastle, Wolves and now the team from Linz.

That has been achieved against the backdrop of introducing an all-new midfield but he is not yet ready to repurpose the tag he bestowed on the side who won the Champions League and Premier League in back-to-back seasons.

“I understand why you are asking me this. It was not long ago I was being asked about us being 1-0 down, 1-0 down, 1-0 down,” he said.

“I understand that this may come up again some time, but this feels completely different.

“When I said that phrase (mentality monsters) at that time, it was not that I planned that way. I just remember watching a game and thinking, ‘oh my God, how did they come back?’.”

“Now it is just that we have changed a few things and turned games around. Staying in a game is a duty and we did that so far which is why we have turned situations.

“Mentality? That is something we will create. What we have now is a mood. This is a spirit we have created because the boys really like playing with each other.

“It is a close group. It is early, that is obvious, and we made 11 changes (against LASK) and when you saw the spirit of the boys at the start it was not like we are on holiday.

“If you saw the dressing room there was a real competitive mood there. I liked that a lot. Again, the boys who came on enjoyed the minutes they got.

“Something is growing but I have no clue how it will go.”

The fact Klopp was able to change the entire team from Saturday’s win at Wolves and still win fairly comfortably is an indication of not only the depth but also the quality he has at his disposal.

It was far from a weakened European team, however, with first-choice centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate at the back and almost £100million-worth of attacking talent in Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz up front.

But the major difference was being able to bring summer signings, and two of his new revamped midfield, Dominik Szobozslai and World Cup-winner Alexis Mac Allister plus Mohamed Salah off the bench for the last half hour to see out the game and avoid any late drama.

It means those key players will be fresh for Sunday’s visit of West Ham as they look to make it five successive Premier League wins.

“I made 11 changes. I don’t know what you thought, but maybe some thought it was too much,” added Klopp.

“Everyone deserved to play for what they have shown in pre-season and training. I wanted a team that did not think for one second about Sunday who would go into it and enjoy it.

“Will I do this in every (European) game? Probably not. But we can mix it in a different way.

“For a squad still without Thiago (Alcantara), no Trent (Alexander-Arnold) and no Conor Bradley we can still change 11 times.

“If we have luck – and by luck I mean everyone stays healthy – and we have 23 players like this at this level we can react in all the games we have and we’ll always have a really good team on the pitch. I like that a lot.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp played down his record-breaking 50th European win after the 3-1 victory over LASK in Austria.

His side came from behind for the fourth time in six matches as goals from Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and substitute Mohamed Salah secured the German’s 50th European victory for the club – surpassing the record he held with Rafael Benitez.

“Let me say it like this, if I still have 50 after the group stage, then even if I’ve still got the most wins in Europe as a Liverpool manager then everybody will hate that,” he said.

“The highest number of wins but everybody will hate it.

“So it’s nice – we have played a lot of games in Europe, but it is good we have won that many and we have frequently qualified for finals.

“No it’s great but probably because the competition now has so many more games than in the past.”

Klopp made 11 changes from the weekend win over Wolves and that contributed to the disjointed, sluggish start.

LASK, in the biggest game in their history, took full advantage as they flew out of the blocks and scored through Florian Flecker’s expertly taken strike from a well-rehearsed corner.

“Tough start, yes. Obviously the first shot on target after a set-piece and we conceded,” the Reds boss added.

“We had very good moments but I saw the boys didn’t feel that. It was not that we could gain confidence from our good moments – we didn’t seem to think we should do that again.

“So we suffered from the less good moments confidence-wise and frustration grew. It makes no sense. Human, but it makes no
sense anyway.

“We showed them (at half-time) two football situations from the first half where we did pretty well. The boys clearly thought there was nothing good in the first half but that was not true.

“We told them they had to get rid of the frustration getting back into the game again, and then we would have a good chance to turn it around, and that’s what we did eventually.

“I’m really, really happy because I said before I knew it would be really difficult, and it was difficult, even if people didn’t believe me. Well-deserved win in the end and that’s it.

“I know that people expect us to fly through this competition. In the group stage it will not happen, in the knockout it will not happen. We have to dig in, dig into it.”

LASK coach Thomas Sageder was disappointed they could not capitalise on their good start.

“We played very brave, we were aggressive and we had a chance to score the second goal but it was only 1-0 at half-time,” he said.

“In the second half we saw how good a team Liverpool were but we fought to the end.”

Liverpool took time adjusting to life back in the Europa League but for the fourth time in six matches this season they came from behind to win 3-1 against LASK in Linz.

It had been 2,682 days since they last appeared in UEFA’s second-tier competition, having played in three Champions League finals and won one, and that adaptation to a new reality took a while to bed in.

The Austrians had no such problem in the biggest game in their history as the visit of Manchester United in 2020, when they were hammed 5-0, happened behind closed doors because of the pandemic.

They were so fired up they predictably took an early lead through Florian Flecker’s brilliantly-taken goal but once Jurgen Klopp’s side came to the realisation the Europa League will be just as tough a task as the competition favourites this season’s familiar trait emerged.

Within the space of eight second-half minutes Darwin Nunez fired home a penalty and Luis Diaz converted from close range and late on substitute Mohamed Salah clinched Klopp’s 50th European victory, the most of any Anfield manager.

Pre-match the German had insisted this was not a competition for handing out “opportunities” but then proceeded to name a completely different side from that which won at Wolves at the weekend.

Not to say that it was weak with first-choice centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate at the back and Diaz and Nunez up front but in between was the untried midfield of newest signing 21-year-old Ryan Gravenberch, on his first start, and Harvey Elliott (20) either side of the 30-year-old ‘veteran’ Wataru Endo who had played just 89 minutes for Klopp’s team since his own summer move.

The real excitement was reserved for livewire winger Ben Doak, who became the club’s fourth-youngest player to play in Europe at the age of 17 years and 314 days on his first start.

But while his first real run at the LASK defence saw him glide past Rene Renner to win a corner he was starved of opportunities by a malfunctioning midfield which could not gain any control in the first half and the young Scot was replaced just past the hour.

Stefan Bajcetic’s misjudgement, the 18-year-old midfielder asked to play the Trent Alexander-Arnold hybrid right-back role, in missing a cross led to a LASK corner and the opening goal.

Flecker was picked out on the edge of the penalty area and he took a touch before drilling a shot through a crowd of players past Caoimhin Kelleher as a training-ground move paid off from their first shot on target.

Liverpool were not so clinical as Nunez headed over an inviting Elliott cross before seeing his close-range nod towards goal from Van Dijk’s header at a corner clawed out by goalkeeper Tobias Lawal.

The raucous home crowd cheered not only that but every block, every tackle, every Liverpool corner repelled, every corner won.

Liverpool’s first move of any quality brought the equaliser when Diaz was brought down by Philipp Ziereis, after Elliott, Doak and Bajcetic had combined down the right, and Nunez powered home from the spot in the 56th minute.

It was the signal for Klopp to make changes with summer signings Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister, two of his new first-choice midfield, replacing Doak and Endo with Joe Gomez giving Bajcetic a break after his first game since March after injury.

They went ahead when Nunez brought down Gomez’s pass from deep, laid off to Elliott who sent Gravenberch racing down the right and his low cross was turned home by Diaz.

If life was not difficult enough for the hosts Mohamed Salah was introduced in the 76th minute and created two chances and had a shot inside his first 60 seconds before weaving himself into a position to poke through the legs of the goalkeeper two minutes from time.

Liverpool signed Spain midfielder Thiago Alcantara from European champions Bayern Munich on this day in 2020.

The Spain international was in the last year of his deal with the Bundesliga club and arrived at Anfield for an initial fee of £20million.

Thiago’s signing had been anticipated by supporters for some time and he went straight into the squad to face Chelsea, playing 45 minutes in a 2-0 win.

Thiago told the club’s website: “I think it’s an amazing feeling.

“I was waiting for this moment for a long time and I am very, very happy to be here.

“When the years are passing, you are trying to win as much as you can – and when you win, you want to win more.

“I think this club describes what I am as well. I want to achieve all of the goals, win as many trophies as possible.

“It also (has) this kind of family (feeling) that I need because we (like to) have a very close relationship with the club and I think I will feel this, I will have this feeling, with this club as well.”

Thiago, who played in Liverpool’s FA Cup final success in 2022, has made 97 appearances in his injury-hit three years at Anfield.

Andrew Robertson believes Liverpool have been let off the leash.

The stand-in skipper hailed the Reds’ fresh start following their 3-1 win at Wolves on Saturday.

Robertson scored his first goal since May 2022 – also against Wolves – with five minutes left before Harvey Elliott’s shot deflected in off Hugo Bueno in stoppage time.

It capped a comeback started by Cody Gakpo’s second-half equaliser and extended Liverpool’s unbeaten run in the Premier League, stretching back to last season, to 16 games.

They finished fifth last season, 22 points adrift of champions Manchester City but Robertson welcomed the clean slate.

“It’s a new start. We’ve got a lot of new players, kind of a new way of playing and things like that. So I think we just feel free,” he told the club’s official website after a fourth straight win.

“We’ve got good, exciting young players that sometimes you could probably see that in the first half where it was time to just put the foot on the ball and we were still maybe trying to force it.

“Then in the second half, they just came out, played with no fear and we made really good substitutions. Darwin (Nunez) caused problems, Harvey caused problems and Luis Diaz comes on at half-time.

“So, we’ve got a strong squad, we’ve still got players obviously missing with Trent (Alexander-Arnold) and Thiago.

“They weren’t in the squad so we can only get stronger. But if we keep everyone fit, we believe that we’ve got a squad that can compete, and we need to keep on showing that.”

Hwang Hee-chan gave Wolves an early lead and the hosts dominated the majority of the first half, with Matheus Cunha missing a golden chance to double their lead.

Defeat means Gary O’Neil’s side have lost four of their opening five league games, despite promising performances under the new head coach.

“Like the coach said after the game against Manchester United, we cannot perform at this kind of level and have this kind of game – the first half we dominated the game – and get out of it with zero points,” Pedro Neto told the club’s official website.

“We’re feeling it a lot, but we have to continue to work, we have to take points. We have to continue to do these first halves and take what we did in the first half into the second half.”

Jurgen Klopp admitted Liverpool’s first-half struggles left him questioning his side – before the Reds hit back to win at Wolves.

Andrew Robertson’s late strike and Hugo Bueno’s injury-time own goal completed Liverpool’s 3-1 victory at Molineux.

Cody Gakpo had levelled earlier in the second half as Liverpool earned a third comeback victory of the season and fourth straight win. They are now unbeaten in 16 Premier League games, stretching back to last season.

Hwang Hee-Chan’s opener had put vibrant Wolves in command and only a shocking miss from Matheus Cunha stopped them from adding to their lead.

Klopp had criticised the early kick-off after the international break – with Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Alisson and Alexis Mac Allister all returning from South America on Friday – and conceded he was worried during a wretched first half.

He said: “In the first half I thought ‘WTF?’ a couple of times. We were not ready in the first half but Wolves did really well.

“With these boys, some of them we’ve had seven, eight, nine weeks with, some of them longer, I know if they can be, they are there. Today they couldn’t in a lot of moments.

“I know if you get through the first half with a reasonable result, you can turn it.

“The team needed help and we could deliver the help a little bit with the changes and change of system. They were completely different halves.

“The same players who looked rusty in the first half, in the second half it looked much easier.

“Wolves played a super first half but in the second half we were really good and controlled the game.

“We stayed calm, there was no rush, 3-1 was a result I didn’t expect after 20 minutes but during the second half we deserved it.”

Wolves dominated early and Hwang grabbed a seventh-minute goal when he swept in Pedro Neto’s low cross.

Livewire Neto caused chaos and he gift-wrapped a chance for Cunha after 33 minutes when he breezed past Joe Gomez to cross for the striker to miscue an unmarked header from five yards.

It kept Liverpool in the game and, after introducing Luis Diaz at the break, the visitors levelled 10 minutes later.

Gakpo and Diaz managed to smuggle the ball to Salah on the right and his low ball was turned in by the unmarked Gakpo.

Wolves lost all their first-half fearlessness, failing to create another chance, but it took until the 86th minute for Liverpool to capitalise.

Jose Sa’s poor clearance fell for Robertson just inside Wolves’ half. The defender burst forward to swap passes with Salah and finish from seven yards.

Harvey Elliott’s 20-yard strike then deflected off Bueno in stoppage time to seal victory.

Wolves boss Gary O’Neil said: “If you look at the two sides, the gap in quality, it takes a big effort to close that.

“I thought we did for a very long time. The organisation and structure managed to help us bridge that gap.

“When we were on top we could have taken one or two of our good situations.

“We were digging in and then we make a strange decision, create a bit of chaos and concede the second goal.

“At 1-1 they’ve had a lot of the ball but we made a strange decision and it cost us a goal. Up until 80 minutes to have pushed Liverpool that close was a very good effort.

“We conceded a crazy second goal which is what I’ve been trying to get out of the players since I’ve been here.”

Liverpool’s late show fired Jurgen Klopp’s men to the top of the Premier League with a 3-1 comeback win at Wolves.

Andrew Robertson and Hugo Bueno’s own goal saw the Reds escape Molineux with a victory which looked unlikely at half-time.

Hwang Hee-Chan’s early opener gave Wolves the lead as the hosts dominated and only a woeful miss by Matheus Cunha stopped them going further ahead.

Liverpool were wretched in the first half but slowly improved, levelling through Cody Gakpo before breaking Wolves’ resistance with four minutes left for a third comeback win of the season.

Boss Klopp had unloaded a new blast at the fixture schedule ahead of the early kick-off and his mood would have darkened just seven minutes in.

Vibrant Wolves had already begun to stretch Liverpool before they broke at pace from the edge of their own area.

Cunha sent Pedro Neto scampering down the left and the forward glided past the flimsy Dominik Szoboszlai and Joel Matip.

He had little support but rolled the ball across the front of goal for Hwang to slide in at the far post as Alisson failed to make the ground.

Manager Gary O’Neil promised Wolves had a plan to be aggressive and they continued to press with debutant Jean-Ricner Bellegarde a bustling presence, in contrast to the sloppy £60m Szoboszlai.

Neto was a constant menace, steering over Nelson Semedo’s cross before firing wide from 20 yards, with Liverpool shellshocked and unable to find rhythm.

If Klopp, who patrolled his technical area with typical gusto, expected a response he was found wanting. Gakpo was anonymous, Mo Salah timid and Diego Jota wasted their only opening of the half, firing over from 15 yards.

While masterminding Bournemouth’s escape from relegation last season, O’Neil oversaw a 1-0 win against Liverpool and the boss believes the Reds will challenge for the title again.

After three wins from their opening four games, he expected to see an improved Liverpool at Molineux yet for spells it was one-way traffic as Wolves dominated and should have doubled their lead after 33 minutes.

Again Neto was the architect, bamboozling Joe Gomez to cross for an unmarked Cunha, only for the striker to completely mistime his header from five yards to let Liverpool off the hook.

It was a glaring miss but the pedestrian Reds were unable to take immediate advantage, Gakpo slicing wide and nodding over.

There was, at least, a small spark from Liverpool before the break when Jose Sa spilled Jota’s cross to Salah, whose shot was blocked, with Sa then saving Szoboszlai’s follow up.

The fear for Wolves was Liverpool would not be that passive in the second half and Klopp responded by introducing Luis Diaz for Alexis Mac Allister.

It almost paid off immediately when the forward headed Robertson’s cross inches wide 90 seconds after the re-start – and the visitors levelled 10 minutes later.

Wolves were unable to rob Diaz and Gakpo on the edge of the box, with the ball eventually rolling for Salah to cross low for Gakpo to tap in from close range.

It was the striker’s final touch, Darwin Nunez replacing him, while Wolves’ good work was in the process of being completely undone.

From being in charge, the hosts had their backs to the wall and only a last-ditch block from Max Kilman stopped Nunez snatching the lead.

Yet the Reds struck with four minutes left after Sa gifted them a second.

The goalkeeper’s poor clearance was collected by Robertson mid-way inside the Wolves half. He advanced to dart into the area, swapped passes with Salah and finish under Sa.

There was still time for a third in stoppage time when Elliott’s 20-yard drive clipped Bueno to wrongfoot Sa and roll in off the post.

Sports stars and clubs across the world continue to provide an insight into their lives on social media.

Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the best examples from September 15.

Football

Jurgen Klopp liked his new club merchandise.

Clubs remembered Graham Taylor on what would have been his 79th birthday.

James Maddison was grateful.

Cricket

The Barmy Army were pleased to see Freddie back.

Golf

Nicolai Hojgaard went close to winning a new car at Wentworth.

F1

The Singapore Grand Prix had unexpected visitors.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists Jordan Henderson was not forced out but admits he could not offer the former captain guaranteed playing time and so it was “better he moved on”.

In an interview during the international break Henderson, 33, claimed he did not feel wanted when he returned from his summer break and that is why he chose to join Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ettifaq.

However, Klopp said there was no “bad blood” between the pair.

“Hendo said the truth, in all departments, that’s how it was,” said the manager.

“We had our talks and I told Hendo I wanted him to stay but we had to talk in these conversations about the possibility of not playing regularly.

“I cannot have a talk before a season and tell a player they will have 50 games 100 per cent because I don’t know that, it all depends on performance.

“And if Hendo had performed, he would have had maybe 50 games, absolutely possible.

“But in the specific situation, with the relationship we had, I thought it was important that we speak about everything because I don’t want to wake up one morning and need to lock horns with each other because he thought he would start and I tell him he isn’t.

“Obviously (for) Hendo that meant, ‘OK, he doesn’t want me here’. I understand it 100 per cent but we clarified that.

“If I would have told him ‘Hendo, stay here, you will be the main man in midfield’, he would have stayed but as much as I wanted him to stay, I couldn’t say that so that’s why it was better that Hendo moved on.

“There’s not a bit of bad blood or whatever.”

Liverpool will head to Wolves on Saturday lunchtime without influential defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is still recovering from a hamstring injury sustained in the win against Aston Villa a fortnight ago.

But centre-back Ibrahima Konate is fit again, which means Joe Gomez will be asked to fill in at right-back.

It will mean Liverpool have to play a slightly different way as for the last six months Alexander-Arnold has been operating in a hybrid role which has seen him step in as a midfield playmaker when in possession.

“We have to be there flexible even with Trent. If you watch the game against Villa in detail you will see he was not fixed in any midfield role; inside role, we have to be flexible there and that’s exactly how we will do it,” Klopp said.

“But if you know another passer like Trent tell me, who can play this position, that would be really cool.

“It must be fine; it will be fine. We have to adapt to the different skillset of the player, but the most important thing in this game again is defensive stability.

“If you are not stable you don’t have to think about that and that’s why the last game against Aston Villa (Liverpool’s first clean sheet of the season), I think a lot of people were maybe not convinced about our last line.

“Then you saw Joe Gomez and Joel Matip performing on that level so that was the key for the game, plus Alexis (Mac Allister) in front of them did really well.

“We need defensively stability and then we can play football from there.”