• ‘You can’t play knowing you can’t make a foul’
• Manager praises team response to Wolves’ fightback

Arne Slot admitted he withdrew Ibrahima Konaté at half-time against Wolves to save the Liverpool defender from a second yellow card, as the Premier League leaders secured a nervous victory at Anfield.

Liverpool restored their seven-point advantage over Arsenal but played with doubts caused by James Tarkowski’s 98th-minute equaliser for Everton in the Merseyside derby, according to Slot. Konaté could have increased their problems when, having already been booked for dragging back Matheus Cunha, he collided late with the Wolves playmaker shortly before the interval. The referee, Simon Hooper, ignored Wolves’ appeals for a second yellow and thus a red card. “I cannot change anything now but in my opinion it was a second yellow card,” Pereira said.