Liverpool eased past Wolves to reach the quarter-finals

2 min: Liverpool appear to be employing a one-man press. Jones. That’s it. Wolves play through it, and Mane dallies over a shot from the edge of the D. He can’t get one away, but then Gravenberch clips Toti and it’s a free kick for Wolves in a dangerous position, just left of centre, 30 yards out.

Liverpool get the ball rolling. “It’s 1-0 Falkirk,” writes Simon McMahon. “Hic!”

This time around, Liverpool made no mistake at Molineux. They stayed on the road to Wembley, thanks to two players signed in 2017, beloved veterans with uncertain futures. Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah scored the goals to ease the pain of Tuesday’s Premier League defeat before Curtis Jones’s strike completed a night of relative comfort. Wolves crashed back to the reality of eight remaining top-flight matches before the drop. Their goal from Hwang Hee-chan came far too late.

While Arne Slot expresses disappointment at the Premier League’s entertainment levels, a verdict hostage to fortune on Tuesday, his starting selection suggested an FA Cup exit would not be countenanced. Winning the trophy will not offer full job security but losing twice at the top flight’s bottom club in three days, a potentially telling blow, was avoided.

Premier League champions have looked slow and lacked tempo with the spotlight on their wingers

Winger is “the hardest position to play” in modern football, according to Arne Slot, and Liverpool’s wide men would find it hard to disagree. A lot of Liverpool’s problems this season can be attributed to their attacking flair being stifled, leaving the champions 19 points adrift of Premier League leaders, Arsenal.

Liverpool return to Molineux on Friday, three days after a stoppage-time defeat by Wolves in the league. The FA Cup fifth-round fixture will be an opportunity for Slot to test his bullpen of wingers and see whether they can do better. Liverpool have scored 48 goals in 29 league matches, the average of 1.66 a game a long way short of the 2.26 when winning last season’s title.