RELENTLESS REDS ROLL ON:
Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold clips the ball past West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski to set up Sadio Mane for the winning goal in Liverpool’s 3-2 victory at Anfield last night – Jurgen Klopp’s charges are now 22 points clear of second-placed Manchester City with 11 games left.
THIS WAS another win for Liverpool in their inevitable march towards the Premier League title but rarely have they been pushed this hard this season.
It was remarkable from relegation-threatened West Ham who have been so abject at times this campaign but showed intense commitment to, at one stage, threaten Liverpool’s chances of remaining unbeaten in the league.
Still Liverpool – as they do – found a way with substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain making the difference which means they need just four more victories to ensure their first title in 30 years while West Ham remain in the bottom three. If David Moyes’s side continue to perform like this that will not be the case for much longer, while, maybe, Liverpool needed this kind of jolt.
Banners were unfurled by the visiting West Ham fans aimed at the owners, black balloons floated from the away end and there were chants also which added to the sense of anger and disillusionment and a club under siege. The team began like that also.
Inevitably, West Ham were pressed back and almost brought about their own downfall as Lukasz Fabianski and Issa Diop exchanged passes before the West Ham goalkeeper was chased down by Sadio Mane with his clearance rebounding off the striker and narrowly past the post.
It merely delayed the inevitable. Liverpool pushed again with Aaron Cresswell getting a toe to the ball but Trent Alexander-Arnold then whipping a cross in from the right which was met by Georginio Wijnaldum – who Robert Snodgrass had failed to track – with the midfielder guiding his header beyond Fabianski. It was Alexander-Arnold’s 11th assist in the league this season with only Kevin De Bruyne having provided more with 14.
“We’re gonna win the league,” chanted the Kop and maybe it was too easy because West Ham struck back from a Snodgrass corner with Diop pulling away from Joe Gomez to steer a header of his own goalwards. Alisson got a hand to the ball but could not keep it out – could he have done better? – and West Ham were level with just 174 seconds between the goals and Liverpool conceding at Anfield for the first time since December 4 in their 5-2 win against Everton (11 hours and 27 minutes of football).
“We’re gonna win the league,” responded the West Ham fans, earning a ripple of applause from the Kop.
By now, the early siege, had been lifted. West Ham were providing a threat of their own, especially from setpieces with Tomas Soucek winning another header, and Liverpool were maybe marked by a complacency.
They certainly lacked their usual sharpness but still carried a threat and went close to reclaiming the lead as Virgil van Dijk rose to meet a corner with his header clipping the top of the crossbar.
The casualness was evident again in the opening seconds of the second half when Roberto Firmino was picked out in space by Alexander-Arnold inside the West Ham area only to sidefoot wastefully over while there was a blow for the visitors as they lost new signing Soucek, who had been such an energetic influence in midfield, to injury.
Impact
But his replacement, Pablo Fornals, made an impact of his own. He scored. It followed a fine passage of play by West Ham as they worked the ball around the face of the Liverpool area before it was eventually crossed by Declan Rice with Fornals, from 12 yards out, guiding his first-time shot past Alisson and into the corner of the net.
Could West Ham hold out? There was a long time to go and, unfortunately for them, Fabianski provided the answer with an appalling blunder as he allowed Salah’s shot, from Robertson’s cut-back, to trickle through his legs.
The noise increased and, finally, this felt more like Anfield. Remarkably, West Ham spurned a chance when Fornals cross was met by Michail Antonio only for his control to let him down with the ball running to Alisson.
Liverpool pushed on with Gomez’s shot deflecting off Mark Noble. Alexander-Arnold retrieved the ball, hooking it across goal for Mane to tap into the net. “We shall not be moved,” sang The Kop but they had been pushed with Hammers’ substitute Jared Bowen put clear late on only for Alisson to block his shot. (© Daily Telegraph, London)