Follow all the action live as champions-elect Liverpool welcome Premier League stragglers West Ham to Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are already an almost insurmountable 19 points clear at the top of the table, however, their momentum was finally rocked by Atletico Madrid in the first of their Champions League tie last Tuesday.
West Ham, however, are enduring a miserable run of form, having now gone seven games without a win in all competitions, and currently sit in the relegation zone. Follow all the action live below:
Liverpool 1 – 1 West Ham
39 mins: Liverpool have another free kick. There’s been a lot of set pieces in this gam so far. Alexander-Arnold gets the ball through the wall and a slight deflection puts the ball out for a corner.
The Liverpool right-back sends the ball into the six yard box, van Dijk times his run and jumps, wins the header and hits the crossbar.
Liverpool 1 – 1 West Ham
36 mins: Alexander-Arnold sends a free kick into the West Ham six-yard box where Mane and van Dijk try to get on the end of it. They don’t and the ball bounces to Salah on the back post. It’s a difficult ball to control and Salah tries to head it back into the middle of the area but is unsuccessful and the ball goes out of play.
Liverpool 1 – 1 West Ham
33 mins: West Ham win yet another corner. It comes to Ogbonna who manages to get something on the ball and knock it down to Soucek. He heads it towards the far post where Diop is waiting to tap it in before the offside flag is raised.
Liverpool 1 – 1 West Ham
30 mins: Liverpool win the ball high up the pitch and pass it to Firmino. He runs it towards the box and lays it through to Alexander-Arnold approaching from the right. He shoots first time and sends the ball back across the box towards the far corner but misses.
Liverpool 1 – 1 West Ham
27 mins: Firmino takes a curling shot from outside the box. It goes over the bar. Firmino hasn’t scored at Anfield for 11 months now so expect a loud cheer if he gets one tonight.
Liverpool 1 – 1 West Ham
24 mins: Antonio almost makes use of a Joe Gomez mistake. He wins the ball off the Liverpool defender and a heavy touch sends the ball towards the box. Alisson takes a moment to decide if he’s going to go for the ball and then sets off beating Antonio to it as it reaches the edge of the area. He smothers it much to the relief of Gomez.
Liverpool 1 – 1 West Ham
21 mins: Alexander-Arnold’s cross is headed away by one of the players in a white shirt, I can’ see which one but Noble has possession and is brought down close to the halfway line for a West Ham free kick.
Liverpool 1 – 1 West Ham
18 mins: As expected Liverpool have had the most possession but West Ham have been surprising with their attacking play which is a complete contrast to the way they played against Man City last time out.
The Hammers win another corner, Snodgrass delivers it into the box but Liverpool are able to break out on the counter attack and Fabinho wins a corner for the home side.
Liverpool 1 – 1 West Ham
15 mins: West Ham’s confidence seems to have been boosted by that goal. They’re committing men forward when they have the ball and asking a few questions of the Liverpool defence.
Declan Rice gives a free kick away with a challenge on Fabinho. Robertson crosses the ball into the box and West Ham head it back out. Liverpool pick up the ball quickly and pass it out wide to Salah.
Salah brings the ball to the right edge of the box and shoots forcing Fabianski to tip the ball over the bar and out for a corner.
Liverpool 0 – 0 West Ham
6 mins: Robertson wins the first corner of the game for Liverpool. Alexander-Arnold whips the ball into the box but West Ham are able to clear.
van Dijk sends a long ball into the box and Salah makes the run to collect it. Cresswell goes with him and heads the ball out for another corner.
The ball comes in to the near post and is headed away. Salah is given the ball and he passes it to Robertson on the edge of the box. He puts the ball onto his left foot and shoots but the shot goes wide.
Liverpool 0 – 0 West Ham
3 mins: Keita makes a darting run to the right of the box and Salah tries to find him with a pass from the wing. Soucek is back to defend and he cuts in front of Keita to win the ball.
The players make their way out onto the pitch, Virgil van Dijk has the captain’s armband for Liverpool tonight and he takes in the applause from the partisan crowd. Kick off is next…
10 minutes to go until kick off. Everyone believes Liverpool are going to cruise to victory tonight but what will West Ham bring to the party? Can they make it difficult for the European champions and maybe get a draw? Or will they shock the world and come away from Anfield with a very unlikely victory?
David Moyes has managed 15 away games at Anfield and is yet to pick up a win. Which is incredible when you realise he’s managed both of Liverpool’s greatest rivals.
His record is 15 played, seven draws and eight losses including the last three games played here.
in his pre-match interview he said:
“It’s football. We’ve seen some crazy results in cup competitions and all sorts of different football games so we have to hope we get one of them tonight.
“We’re trying to improve in every performance and every game we play. I thought we were well organised and disciplined in our defensive duties [against Man City] but ultimately when we got the ball we were good enough to keep it. We hope to improve on that.
“Everybody’s trying to work out what’s the best way to play against Liverpool. Eventually someone will find a way, I hope it’s us. We’ve got to hope that it’s tonight but we’ll do everything we can do get a result.”
Liverpool are on the verge of a record breaking season. They need just five victories to pick up the firt top flight title for 30 years.
Victory tonight would see them equal Manchester City’s English top flight record of 18 consecutive league wins.
The Reds haven’t lost in the league for over a year when they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Man City in January 2019. In that time they’ve played 43 fixtures winning 38 of them.
A touch of class from West Ham:
West Ham have only won one game at Anfield and three against Liverpool in 57 top flight away matches.
In the last seven league games between the two sides Liverpool are unbeaten winning five of them and drawing two.
In four of those games Liverpool put at least four goals past West Ham, could we be in for more of the same tonight?
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Match preview
What time is Liverpool vs West Ham?
The match kicks off at 8pm GMT.
How can I watch on TV?
The game will be shown on TV in the UK, and can be watched on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League.
Can I stream it online?
If you’re a Sky Sports customer then you can watch the action on the Sky Sports website and on the Sky Go app.
Line-ups
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Keita, Mane, Salah, Firmino
West Ham United: Fabianski, Ngakia, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Noble, Soucek, Snodgrass, Anderson, Antonio
Prediction?
Liverpool 3-0 West Ham. While the Hammers have plenty to play for, Liverpool are likely to come out firing since that midweek defeat.
