WEST BROM STEAL SPOTLIGHT FROM SALAH
Baggies secure dramatic draw as Liverpool ace equals Suarez’s record
SALOMON Rondon completed a remarkable West Bromwich Albion comeback from two goals down against Liverpool although the hard-won point from a 2-2 draw at the Hawthorns yesterday will probably only delay their relegation.
The visitors appeared to have half an eye on Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final against AS Roma but still established a comfortable lead through Danny Ings and Mohamed Salah.
Ings’s goal after just four minutes was his first in the Premier League since October 2015. The striker should have had a second soon afterwards and probably been awarded a penalty after being bundled over by Craig Dawson.
With Salah notching up his 31st of the season to equal Luis Suarez’s club record for goals in a season, Liverpool appeared to have done enough to take the points.
West Brom’s caretaker manager Darren Moore has, however, injected resilience into his side and, with Liverpool’s defence suddenly displaying their earlyseason sloppiness, Jake Livermore scrambled a goal from a corner after 79 minutes to give West Brom hope.
The equaliser followed another set piece late on when Chris Brunt delivered a perfect freekick into the area for Rondon to head home.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp, who had rested five players going into the game, complained that the pitch was too dry.
“It makes a massive difference,” said a visibly downbeat Klopp, whose team are still not guaranteed a top-four finish.
Klopp complained they did not get the “right decisions” on the penalty and the foul from Joe Gomez that led to Rondon’s goal.
“It was a difficult game as the pitch got drier and drier. West Brom decided not to water the pitch at half-time and that makes it difficult,” Klopp groaned.
“It makes a massive difference. A team like West Brom do not need a wet pitch, they can do it next year playing on a dry pitch in the Championship.”
West Brom’s Livermore accepted that relegation remained almost inevitable with the bottomof-the-table team eight points off survival with three games to play. “All we can do is keep fighting,” he said.
His teammate Ahmed Hegazi may face retrospective action from the FA after television cameras clearly caught him punching Ings after a tackle.
Asked about Hegazi’s clash with Ings, Klopp added: “The analyst showed it to me, I don’t have to say anything about that, I don’t know why he did it, there is no reason.”
On Ings’ penalty appeal, Klopp said: “People laugh at Ings when he goes down, but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t go down in that situation.”