Report and reaction
That’s it for me tonight. Thanks for reading and for your emails and tweets. And congratulations to Marina Hyde and Barney Ronay, who have both won some of the top honours at the SJAs tonight. Marina also won sports columnist of the year. Great stuff, and well deserved.
It's the wonderful and very shocked @MarinaHyde!
— Sports Journalists (@SportSJA) February 24, 2020
The first woman to win Sportswriter of the Year 👏#SJA2019 pic.twitter.com/EWrBYc9XxA
And your winner is the brilliant @barneyronay!#SJA2019 pic.twitter.com/pDNZZ1Pq1F
— Sports Journalists (@SportSJA) February 24, 2020
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Here’s Andy Hunter's match report
Liverpool require 12 points from their final 11 games to win their first Premier League title.
Trent Alexander Arnold speaks! He had two more assist tonight to take his tally to 24 since the start of last season. That is six more than any other player in the Premier League.
We’re happy with the win. But there’s a lot of things we need to get right. The fans were massively with us [they weren’t] when we went behind. We just tried to keep going. It paid off in the end.
The manager gives me freedom. We’re an attacking side. Sometimes I look for a specific man, sometimes I look for an area. I just want to get on the ball and make things happen. I practise those crosses and passes every day. Without my team-mates though, it would just be hopeful balls into the box.
For West Ham, a must-win home game against Southampton is next on Saturday. But after that, they play Arsenal, Wolves, Tottenham, Chelsea in consecutive weeks. If they manage to stay in touch of their relegation rivals at the end of those matches, they have a relatively easy run-in: Newcastle, Burnley, Norwich, Watford, Manchester United and (a huge final game) Aston Villa.
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Good for Liverpool tonight: Alexander-Arnold, Robertson, Salah (in patches) and Oxlade Chamberlain (when he came on).
Good for West Ham: Ogbonna, Diop, Ngakia, Antonio.
A strange one to unpick. David Moyes and West Ham certainly deserve some credit for how they approached this game. Even in the first half, with less than 30% possession, they carried an attacking threat. In the first 15 minutes of the second half, they were comfortably the better side, and deserved their 2-1 lead. But then, Moyes reverted to a defensive stance, withdrew Felipe Anderson and reverting to kicking long balls towards Sebastian Haller’s forehead, and Liverpool made the resulting pressure count. Fabianski may have made two awful errors, but he remains an excellent keeper. He also made a couple of great saves here, although that will be overshadowed.
Unless you are Atlético Madrid, the best way to beat this Liverpool side is to attack them, and take your chances at the back. It seems as soon as you dry to simply get men behind the ball and defend with no attacking outlet, you are done for.
More magic from Mr Jolly, who is occasionally of this parish.
Liverpool have got 79 points, just as they did when they were last champions in 1990.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) February 24, 2020
That was an excellent game of football. Liverpool just do enough – that’s 13 times that Jürgen Klopp’s side this season have won by the odd goal.
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Full-time: Liverpool 3-2 West Ham
The resulting corner is an awful one, not clearing the first man at the near post, and the final whistle sounds! Liverpool’s 18th consecutive win in the league!
90+5 min: Antonio does well to win a cheap free-kick from Matip on the left wing, and West Ham have one final chance to throw the ball into Liverpool’s box. It’s a good ball from Cresswell, cleared, and Noble’s shot from the edge of the box, is deflected wide. It was probably going in!
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90+4 min: Haller has been so poor, undercooking a simple five yard pass. A penny for Felipe Anderson’s thoughts, on the West Ham bench.
90+2 min: That Alisson save from Bowen is the difference tonight. Whereas Fabianski made a second error to gift Liverpool a second goal, Alisson recovered from making his own early error to deny Bowen, and probably secure Liverpool’s win.
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90+1 min: Joel Matip is coming on for Mané. Klopp recognises that West Ham still carry a threat here.
90 min: Five minutes added on for injury time. This game is not dead yet!
88 min: West Ham have a golden chance to make it 3-3! Bowen is clean through on goal after a wonderful slide-rule pass from Antonio, but the former Hull City man takes it wide with his first touch, and sees Alisson spread himself to save his shot. Ooooooh! What a chance that was. Liverpool have looked very vulnerable at the back tonight. A more clinical side would have picked them apart.
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87 min: And so it remains 3-2.
LIVERPOOL GOAL RULED OUT FOR OFFSIDE!
Sadio Mané thought he had given Liverpool a 4-2 lead with a tap in at the far post, but replays show that he was a yard offside after latching onto Alexander-Arnold’s cross.
83 min: Snodgrass’s injury means he is going to have to be withdrawn. Bowen will come on for his second West Ham appearance. This change has probably come 20 minutes to late. For all their good tactical plan in the first half, Moyes’s negativity has been as culpable as Fabianski’s errors for West Ham surrendering their lead.
3-2! That was coming. It was perhaps a lucky goal for Liverpool, with Alexander-Arnold’s pass deflected wonderfully into Salah’s path, but the Egyptian showed good pace to beat Fabianski to the bouncing ball, and hooked the ball back from the byline for Mané to tuck the ball into an open net from two yards out.
GOAL! Liverpool 3-2 West Ham (Mané 81)
Liverpool lead!
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80 min: Noble is booked for holding back Oxlade-Chamberlain.
79 min: Van Dijk goes down in the area, claiming a penalty, after Haller had the temerity to out-jump him under a high ball. No penalty.
78 min: Ogbonna and Diop have been magnificent at the heart of West Ham’s defence. The Italian does well to chase down Salah and make a tackle on the Liverpool forward before he can get into the West Ham box.
76 min: West Ham make a rare break forward – Antonio has been excellent in carrying the ball through midfield since Felipe Anderson went off – but Haller can only hit a powerful effort straight at Alisson. Haller has done next to nothing since coming on, it really was a very strange substitution from Moyes when West Ham were winning 2-1.
73 min: How have Liverpool not scored here?! A deep cross evades everybody but Salah, who steals in at the back post and stabs a low shot towards goal. Fabianski saves with his feet, but the ball pops up kindly for Firmino at the back post. The Brazilian looks like he must surely score, but the ball slightly goes past him, and Firmino can only hook it onto the post from an acute angle. With Liverpool shooting towards the Kop, this could be a matter of time.
71 min: Here come Liverpool again. They have 20 minutes to find a winner.
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2-2! I was just about to praise Fabianski for his bravery in collecting some high balls, but this is an awful, awful mistake to gift Liverpool an equaliser. Robertson showed excellent pace to get around Snodgrass to the byline, cutting the ball back to Salah on the penalty spot. The Egyptian hit his shot first time, low and straight at Fabianski, but the Pole let the ball trickle through his legs, just over the line. Bring back Roberto!
GOAL! Liverpool 2-2 West Ham (Salah 68)
Another terrible error from Fabianski!
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67 min: Diop is penalised for a perfectly good tackle in midfield. The Frenchman gets a yellow card but has been excellent tonight.
65 min: A very interesting substitution from Moyes: Felipe Anderson off, Sebastian Haller on. You could understand why West Ham have made the change – Haller holding up the ball, getting the Hammers up the pitch – but most of their pace has evaporated with that change. Weird one.
63 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain has given Liverpool a renewed thrust in central midfield, as Liverpool pour forward in search of an equaliser. Alexander-Arnold tries his luck from distance, his shot swerving and dipping, but Fabianski does well to get two hands to the ball, pushing it behind for a corner, from which Firmino heads well over.
62 min: Brilliant tackle from Ngakia! Mané was through on goal after a neat backheel from Robertson, but the teenager just got back to toe the ball away from the Sengalese. That is a challenge that Zabaleta simply wouldn’t have been able to make, owing to his lack of pace. Ngakia is having quite the game at right back.
61 min: West Ham have been the better side here, but are in danger of reverting to type, dropping deep and inviting pressure onto them.
@michaelbutler18 nothing less than Liverpool deserve. Witless and incoherent from Liverpool
— Harry Palmer (@Harry_Palmer1) February 24, 2020
60 min: For the first time in a long time, there is a sense of disquiet among the home fans at Anfield. There is a nervousness in the air, and some jeers when errors are made. Interesting to see how Jürgen Klopp’s side react.
58 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain tries his luck from range, his effort flying two yards wide. The Englishman scored an excellent goal last month at the London Stadium, remember.
57 min: Liverpool make an immediate change: Oxlade-Chamberlain comes on for Keïta, who has been pretty anonymous.
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GOAL! Liverpool 1-2 West Ham (Fornals 55)
What a move this is, some lovely touches in midfield from Noble, Snodgrass to build the play up methodically, before Rice whips in an early cross that leaves Liverpool’s centre backs on their heels. Fornals makes a late run into the box and sweeps the ball into the corner with a first-time finish. Right in the corner, that was. Brilliant. West Ham deserve their lead!
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53 min: “I am impressed with the West Ham team performance today except for Felipe Anderson,” emails Kevin Willis. “Is this how he normally plays? He is constantly giving the ball away or making poor choices.”
I would beg to differ, Kevin. The Brazilian is being asked to do a lot more defensive work today, and he is mostly doing it effectively. He’s probably West Ham’s best player and has the pace to hurt Liverpool on the counter-attack.
51 min: Yellow card for Declan Rice, who was late in the challenge on (I think) Keïta. He’ll have to be careful for the next 40 minutes.
50 min: Felipe Anderson skips past a couple of challenges, and suddenly the whole pitch opens up for West Ham. Liverpool look horribly exposed, but Fornals chooses the wrong option, passing left when Snodgrass was clean through on the right and the attack fizzles out. Liverpool looking a bit ropey without the ball, here!
49 min: Two excellent blocks from Ogbonna, who has been a real leader for West Ham tonight.
47 min: Bad news for West Ham, as Soucek collapses to the turf with some sort of injury. He’s going to have to be replaced, which is a big blow to David Moyes. Pablo Fornals comes on in his place, but the Spaniard is a quite different footballer, and won’t give West Ham’s back four the same protection.
46 min: It took 30 seconds for Liverpool to carve out their first chance of the second half, and what a good one it was. Alexander-Arnold burst through a gaping hole in West Ham’s central midfield, feeds Firmino on the left, but the Brazilian blazes over, taking the shot first time. It does seem like he is lacking a little bit of composure in front of goal. I’m sure that comment will come back to haunt me.
Peeeeeeeeeep! We’re off again at Anfield.
“As a West Ham fan this is pure torture,” emails Tom Shaw. “Why don’t they just get it over with and ship three or four goals and put us out of our misery? It’s the bloody hope that kills.”
Half-time reading:
And something for your commute tomorrow morning:
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Half-time: Liverpool 1-1 West Ham
Liverpool concede their first goal at home since 4 December, a 5-2 win over Everton.
45 min: One minute added on here for added time. West Ham are defending well.
43 min: Robertson and Snodgrass are having an intriguing battle down Liverpool’s left flank. The two Scotsman, who both grew up in Glasgow, have both flown into challenges. Robertson has got the better of his compatriot in open play, but it was Snodgrass that provided the assist for West Ham’s goal.
41 min: Corner to West Ham, who are running the channels effectively to get up the pitch. Well defended by Gomez this time.
39 min: From the corner, Liverpool hit the bar! Alexander-Arnold whips the ball in and an unmarked Van Dijk glances an effort onto the top of the bar and behind! There was some blocking going on to allow Van Dijk the space to run at the cross, but it’s crazy that the Hammers aren’t man-marking the Dutchman.
38 min: Dangerous free-kick for Liverpool, central and 25 yards out from goal. Alexander-Arnold is over the ball … the ball flies through the wall with a slight deflection and a few inches wide! There was a quick check with VAR for a handball but we continue with a corner for Liverpool.
35 min: Whisper it, but West Ham are … playing well?
33 min: Good work from Noble and Cresswell earns West Ham yet another corner. Here come the cavalry. A bit of head tennis later and Rice nods it towards Diop, who is unmarked at the back post … he taps it wide! That’s a golden chance, although the Frenchman may well have been deemed offside if he had stuck it in.
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31 min: Pleased to say that Ngakia has made a promising start to this match. Mané is spending most of his side tucked slightly inside, but the young West Ham right back has nullified Robertson well so far.
29 min: Another couple of decent stats …
Trent Alexander-Arnold has as many Premier League assists since the start of last season (22) as Jesus Navas got in his career.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) February 24, 2020
And with that shock #whufc equaliser at #LFC, #CFC’s Premier League record of conceding just 15 goals in 2004-5 remains unmatched/intact for another year.
— Simon Johnson (@SJohnsonSport) February 24, 2020
27 min: Firmino sends a shot just over from range, a curling effort that ends up a couple of yards over the bar. It is apparently 11 months since the Brazilian last scored at Anfield in the Premier League. A remarkable stat.
25 min: Mané nutmegs Snodgrass deliciously and sends a shot towards the top corner, but Diop does well to get across and block the shot.
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24 min: West Ham so nearly take the lead! A slip allows Antonio to run clean through but a heavy touch allows Alisson to come out and claim the ball before the striker can get a shot off!
22 min: Liverpool have had 73% possession, exactly the figure they enjoyed last week against Atlético Madrid.
20 min: Another corner to West Ham but this time Liverpool defend it well and spring on the counter. Declan Rice gets back well to intercept a pass, and allow his team-mates to recover. Liverpool are normally so dangerous in that position.
17 min: Some thoughts regarding Jamie Carragher’s assertion that Liverpool only have six world-class players.
“Carra is wrong but maybe he has a different definition of world class,” emails Mike MacKenzie. “You don’t have to be the best at your position just among the top 4-5 in my opinion. I agree with you that Robertson and Fabinho should be on the list.”
“Carragher is nuts!” writes Jim Dunker. “Robertson & Fabinho are definitely in the mix, and I’d argue that Robertson more so than Alexander-Arnold, who can have a number of lapses in his concentration per game where the team covers him….”
“No love for Henderson?” asks Joe Pearson. “I know he is not in the squad tonight, but he could fit in the midfield of any of the best teams in Europe.”
“I don’t think TAA can yet be called world class, even if he did take the greatest corner in football history against Barcelona! I love Firmino and Salah, but for me Fun Bobby needs to add goals (yes I know what else he does) and Mo needs consistency. He can go missing in big games and sometimes throws his arms around like it’s an affront when he’s tackled. So I would say Alisson, VVD, and perhaps only Mané of the front three. I think world class gets bandied about too easily these days. And besides I want all of them to stay at Anfield! Yours, expecting it in the neck from fellow LFC fans, Michael Gibson.”
15 min: Fabianski now does make a save, and a good one at that! Salah cuts in from the right flank on his left foot, curling one of those classic efforts towards the far post, but Fabianski springs to his right and tips is over the bar.
13 min: Could Alisson have done better there? In truth the header was just six yards out, powerfully nodded down low. It wasn’t right in the corner, but wasn’t the same sort of mistake that Fabianski committed.
1-1! Set pieces were always going to be West Ham’s best chance of a result tonight, and West Ham have indeed scored from a corner! Snodgrass’s cross was brilliantly fired to the near post and Diop got up highest to head the ball low inside Alisson’s near post. There was no player guarding the post, and although Alisson got a hand to it, it crept over the line.
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GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 West Ham (Diop 11)
West Ham hit straight back!
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1-0! David Martin in! A simple goal, as the ball bobbles off Aaron Creswell into a wide area. Alexander-Arnold wraps his foot around the ball the way only he knows how, a wonderfully-whipped cross, and Wijnaldum ghosts in, glancing his header towards the far post. Fabianski should get there, but can only palm the ball into the inside of the side netting! That’s a shocking piece of goalkeeping! The Poland international slaps the crossbar in frustration.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 West Ham (Wijnaldum 9)
A poor error from Fabianski!
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8 min: Antonio latches onto a ball down the left wing, runs the ball to the byline, upon which he is given an almighty shrug by Gomez. Antonio falls on the ball with his hands on the ball, expecting the free-kick, but referee Jon Moss gives the foul the other way, for handball.
6 min: Fabanski nearly has a howler! A heavy touch means his subsequent clearance is blocked by Mané, with the ball just flying two yards wide of the open goal!
4 min: Corner to Liverpool, after a skewed clearance from Diop. Well cleared by Rice. Back come Liverpool, with Van Dijk nearly releasing Salah with a beautiful cross-field ball. Creswell heads behind for another corner. The onslaught has begun.
2 min: It’s a scrappy start. Have to say that this is the first time for me watching Tomas Soucek. West Ham fans, what has been your impression of him? David Moyes certainly likes him, not least because he runs A LOT. More than any West Ham player in six years during the defeat to Man City, if Moyes is to be believed.
Peeeeeeeep! And we’re off.
Here we go then: Liverpool in their all-red kit, West Ham in their changed white away kit, with a sky blue trim. There is a minute’s applause to remember Brian Jackson, a Liverpool winger in the 1950s, who passed away aged 86.
On MNF, Jamie Carragher has suggested that Liverpool have (only) six world-class players: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Firmino, Salah and Mané. Would you not also have Robertson and maybe Fabinho in there? I can’t think of too many left backs or defensive midfielders that are better …
Any thoughts or predictions, do send them through. I’m on michael.butler@theguardian.com or @michaelbutler18.
Moyes has at least spared Pablo Zabaleta the indignity of facing Sadio Mané tonight. Deptford-born Jeremy Ngakia starts tonight, just the second time he has done so in the Premier League. His only other appearance also came against Liverpool in January, a 2-0 defeat at the London Stadium.
“I am keen to give the young players the opportunity,” Moyes said of Ngakia. “Ideally it would not be in this situation and at Anfield away or in this situation where we are in the league. Ideally, you would try to bed them in but it does not always come perfectly. Zabaleta, as you know, has been incredibly reliable and has a great personality when he plays.”
Moyes speaks!
We’ve seen some crazy results. We have to hope that we get one of them tonight. We were well disciplined at City but we weren’t good enough with the ball. We hope we can keep the same defensive organisation.
“Everyone is trying to figure out the way to play against Liverpool. Eventually somebody will find a way. We hope it is us.”
If you’re here for the MBM, here’s a Liverpool-West Ham flavoured Fiver.
Meanwhile, in Frankfurt.
German ultras: do not like Mondays. pic.twitter.com/XeuvaGWKSL
— Rory Smith (@RorySmith) February 24, 2020
Our first email, from Stephen Carr (the Stephen Carr?!).
“Chomsky once said “if you’re not cynical, then you’re not paying attention” and after seeing Moyes’ selection, the cynics amongst us might presume that he effectively just wants to keep the score down tonight.”
I would agree with that. The lack of pace in midfield is staggering: Noble, Snodgrass, Rice, Soucek. Even with Antonio and Felipe Anderson as the forwards, how are they going to counter-attack with that? I just don’t understand the strategy, other than being happy with a 2-0 defeat.
Liverpool are almost at full strength, with that fearsome front three out in force tonight. Jordan Henderson is the big absence, the midfielder out for a few weeks with a hamstring strain he suffered last week against Atlético. James Milner had been earmarked for a start, but Liverpool have admitted that he also misses out tonight “due to a slight muscle strain.” Naby Keïta comes in.
Re the team news, it is pretty damning of West Ham’s transfer policy that Jarrod Bowen, Pablo Fornals and Sebastian Haller are all on the bench. That’s £91m of attacking talent, which has been deemed not suited to be fit/good enough, or well enough suited to the defensive system which Moyes intends to play tonight.
I hope they have relegation wage clauses, because the club is in real trouble if they don’t and they go down. West Ham are currently 18th, in the relegation zone, remember.
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A nice touch.
In tonight's warm-up our players will wear t-shirts in in memory of Bobby Moore, who passed away 27 years ago today. #TheGreatest pic.twitter.com/aB2ebnsgaP
— West Ham United (@WestHam) February 24, 2020
Do you know who else has got an abysmal record at Anfield? David Moyes. The Scotsman has not won there in 15 attempts with Everton, Manchester United, Sunderland and West Ham.
The teams
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson, Keita, Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Salah, Firmino, Mané.
Subs: Lovren, Adrian, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Minamino, Lallana, Origi, Matip.
West Ham: Fabianski, Ngakia, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Snodgrass, Soucek, Noble, Felipe Anderson, Antonio.
Subs: Balbuena, Zabaleta, Lanzini, Bowen, Fornals, Haller, Randolph.
Referee: Jonathan Moss (County Durham)
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Preamble
“Who do we think is going to beat Liverpool in the league this year? Nobody.”
Not my words, reader, but the words of Sam Allardyce, who was talking into a microphone this very morning. The former West Ham manager, who has an abysmal record at Anfield with the various teams he has managed there, also said he didn’t “think there is any doubt” that he could see some of himself in Diego Simeone, after the Argentinian masterminded Atlético Madrid’s backs-to-the-wall victory over Liverpool last week in the Champions League.
That might spell trouble for West Ham tonight, as Liverpool look to put the record straight. What do we reckon, then? 4-0? 5-0? Six? On paper, this looks like as big a home banker as it could possibly get for Liverpool. The Reds sit top of the Premier League form table, West Ham bottom of it, having taken just two points from the past six games. The London side haven’t won away in the league since November, so you have to praise the Hammers fans that have made the long Monday night trip up to Anfield tonight.
Team news with you imminently. And we should have the first goal of the evening before too long.
Kick-off: 8pm GMT.
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