MO KEEPS KOP CRUISING
Liverpool brush lowly Hammers aside to move 19 points clear at summit
AND so the great marches continue, onwards and upwards and downwards and fast. What contrasting studies in momentum, this team that redefines what we thought we knew about domination and another which could soon be among less illustrious company.
In terms of Liverpool, what a glorious canter this season has become. Even on nights such as this, when they are constricted into tighter, duller games, they still look comfortable and are still collecting new nuggets of history.
The latest is one of merely personal pride — the beating in a single season of every team that they have faced in the league. Through 23 previous rounds of this season, they had not faced West Ham — the game postponed in December with Liverpool playing in the Club World Cup in Qatar — and so, in that sense, they were missing the 19th and final piece.
By getting in and out of London with minimal fuss — a penalty from Mo Salah and a goal from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain — they ensured they will have at least one victory against all comers for the first time since 1896, when they were in the second tier.
They now stand at 23 wins in 24, invincible to the tune of 15 straight victories since that October draw with Manchester United and 19 points ahead of Manchester City.
Jurgen Klopp’s attitude towards the FA Cup may have become a talking point in recent days, but he has shouted down everyone in the Premier League. Yelled them right out of the room. To think, eight games from now, when they have six still to play, they might be done even if City go on a perfect run. Remarkable.
Which, of course, is why their fans sing. ‘We’re going to win the league,’ they chorused at the final whistle here. No kidding. It shouldn’t be news to anyone, let alone those who watch these wins every few days.
‘They’re as good as anyone who has been around,’ David Moyes said. ‘I can’t say that when I’m in charge of Manchester United and Everton, but, well…’
Well, indeed. We are talking about one of the finest sides to play in this division and one that could yet make that conversation very one- sided. Not that this was a game where we saw their technicolour beauty. This was one for the grey shades, when patience and pressure won the day.
In that respect, a little credit to West Ham. They didn’t come looking for much, but they had a plan built on limitation and delivered it better than most. While they are now winless in five in all competitions and sit on the brink of the bottom three, there is improvement under Moyes.
Sufficient to save them? If they lose against Brighton on Saturday, you would assume they’d have to start seriously mulling over the financial apocalypse of relegation they fear so much.
They have vastly improved their defence compared to the Manuel Pellegrini reign, and that is borne out by a game in which they gave up 71 per cent of possession but faced only five shots on goal. The greater problem now is converting chances and finding a spark within Sebastien Haller. In this game, they showed little obvious interest in bringing the striker into the game with much regularity.
Moyes went with five at the back, the only surprise in that being the inclusion of 19-year- old Jeremy Ngakia for a debut at right back.
As for Klopp’s selection, only Divock Origi was retained from the FA Cup draw with Shrewsbury and they cruised. Or rather they cruised to the edge of West Ham’s area before the attacks were swallowed and the process was forced to restart.
The breakthrough goal, as with the second, came from a quick counter. The first derived from a Roberto Firmino pass to Origi, who was brought down by a combination of hands on his shirt from Ngakia and a swipe at his
19 LIVERPOOL have now beaten every other team in the Premier League this season. This is the first time they have achieved this in the top flight, after also doing so in 1895-96 in the second tier.
ankle from issa Diop. it was Diop who made the offending foul and, after a vaR check cleared Firmino of handball in the build-up, salah beat Lukasz Fabianski from the spot. He went right, Fabianski chose wrong.
West Ham showed a little more willing early in the second period but were quickly two down to a move that owed something to miscalculations of an aerial ball by Mark Noble and arthur Masuaku and a lot more to a pass from salah with the outside of his boot. He teed up oxlade-Chamberlain and game over, barring a couple of late chances for West Ham.
By the time they were missed or saved, the horse had bolted. it is getting ever closer to the line.