Too little, too late for West Brom
LONDON: Salomon Rondon completed a remarkable West Bromwich Albion comeback from two goals down against Liverpool, although the hard-won point from a 2-2 Premier League draw at the Hawthorns yesterday will probably only delay their relegation.
The visitors appeared to have half an eye on Tuesday’s Uefa Champions League semi-final against Italy’s AS Roma but still established a comfortable lead through Danny Ings and Mo 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 goal soon afterwards and probably been awarded a penalty after being bundled over by Craig Dawson.
With Salah notching up his 31st goal of a remarkable season to equal Luis Suarez’s club record for goals in a season, Liverpool appeared to have done enough to take the points.
Albion’s caretaker manager Darren Moore has, however, injected resilience into his side and with Liverpool’s defence suddenly displaying their early-season sloppiness, Jake Livermore scrambled a goal from a corner after 79 minutes to give Albion hope.
The equaliser followed another set-piece late on when Chris Brunt delivered a perfect free-kick 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 to ensure automatic Champions League qualification for next season..
Klopp complained they did not get the “right decisions” on the penalty and the foul from Joe Gomez that led to Rondon’s goal.
Albion’s Livermore accepted that relegation remained almost inevitable with the bottom-of-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 Football Association after television cameras clearly caught him punching Ings after a tackle.
Later yesterday, Watford and Crystal Palace continued to edge towards survival after a scrappy goalless draw at Vicarage Road that means the home side have taken just two points from a possible 21.
Palace hit the post twice and Watford once but neither side really deserved to win with Watford edging the first half, in which goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey had to be at his sharpest to prevent an own-goal from Joel Ward, and Palace piling on the pressure after the break.
Watford’s Abdoulaye Doucoure was fortunate to remain on the pitch when, having already been booked, he was so incensed by Wilfried Zaha’s penalty shout that he pushed him.
Watford were again unhappy when the Palace winger clashed with keeper Orestis Karnezis and Zaha was once more at the centre of things when he was booked for simulation after his second penalty shout was turned down. – Reuters
Updates in later editions