Liverpool Earn Hard-Fought Victory Over Hammers
By: Shane Brennan.
Liverpool took on West Ham United at Anfield on Wednesday evening, as The Reds looked to follow up their mightily impressive win over league champions Manchester City last time out, but just what did we learn from the encounter?
Jurgen Klopp’s side made a really fast and confident start to the match, with the first chance coming about through a fine pass from Thiago Alcantara that found its way to Darwin Nunez who struck the ball with power first time on the volley, but Łukasz Fabiański was equal to the effort, as he sprung brilliantly off his feet to help the ball over the bar.
The hosts did make the breakthrough, as nice tidy play once again by Thiago in the midfield allowed Kostas Tsimikas to run onto the ball, and in turn, pick out a perfect cross for Nunez to head The Reds in front.
The powerful Uruguayan international was hungry for more, and with the Liverpool press working well he managed to win the ball, and once again test out Fabiański with a rasping shot, that stung the palms of the West Ham United stopper.
Liverpool were on the hunt for more goals before the break at Anfield, and the inform Mohamed Salah nearly came up with one, thanks to good build-up play between Thiago, Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, the ball found its way to Salah in space who got his shot away, but this time his attempt just missed the target.
Nunez was really in form, as he managed to get onto a poor West Ham clearance, as he lashed the ball towards goal Fabiański looked in trouble, but the post was to save The Hammers this time, as Liverpool’s relentless dominance continued.
Just before the interval, West ham managed to get the ball forward through Ben Johnson and Flynn Downes, with the ball bouncing awkwardly, Joe Gomez thought he could win it up against Jarrod Bowen, but sadly he misjudged the tackle and caught Bowen on the follow through, and a penalty was given, and The Hammers had the chance to get back on terms.
Bowen stepped up to take the penalty, but just like on so many occasions in the past Alisson Becker was there to get Liverpool out of trouble, as he produced an excellent save down to his left, to preserve Liverpool’s advantage.
The Reds had a decent chance at the start of the second half through skipper Henderson as he combined well with Salah on the edge of the area, to get a dipping shot away, but it agonisingly went over the crossbar.
Liverpool threatened to double their advantage once again, as Henderson went down the right wing, he picked out Roberto Firmino in space with a low cross, the Brazilian got his attempt away, but Aaron Cresswell managed to throw himself in the way to leave West Ham in with a fighting chance of getting something out of the game.
The home side were quite dominant all night, but they only had one goal to show for their efforts, and The Hammers came into the game as it drew towards a conclusion, as Said Benrahma was found in space at the far post, and it is a good job he couldn’t get power behind his attempt because Alisson and Liverpool would have been in all sorts of trouble.
Klopp’s charges should really have wrapped the game up from a corner, when the ball bounced around in the penalty area, Firmino poked the ball goalwards to no avail, and when the ball came to Curtis Jones, his attempt flew over the crossbar via a deflection.
There was another chance for Liverpool that Salah and The Reds yet again failed to take, and they were very nearly made to pay because when Benrahma and Bowen created a last-gasp chance for Tomáš Souček, to simply knock the ball into an empty net, substitute James Milner was there to produce a heroic block, and in the process earn Liverpool a hard-fought three points.
