West Ham United vs Liverpool
Following a heartbreaking derby defeat in midweek, Liverpool travel to the London Stadium to face West Ham United on Saturday afternoon, looking to reignite their Premier League title hopes. The Hammers are also looking to get back to winning ways after disappointing results in their last two top-flight games against Fulham and Crystal Palace.
Match Preview
Following Arsenal's 5-0 triumph over Chelsea on Tuesday, Liverpool needed to respond positively against Merseyside rivals Everton to keep pace with the Premier League leaders.
Jurgen Klopp's team, on the other hand, were deservedly beaten 2-0 at Goodison Park on Wednesday, with Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin scoring either side of halftime to condemn the Reds to their second league defeat in three games, denting their title aspirations.
While captain Virgil van Dijk has shockingly questioned his teammates' motivation, Klopp said after the match that his team was just "not good enough" and apologised for their poor performance. The German also confessed that Liverpool "needs a crisis at Man City and Arsenal" to stay in the three-way title battle.
With four games remaining, Liverpool is second in the Premier League table, three points behind leaders Arsenal, but defending champions Manchester City in third have two games in hand, including a trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Thursday.
Liverpool will be looking forward to facing West Ham on Saturday, as they have already defeated the Hammers twice this season in all competitions by an aggregate score of 8-2. They followed up a convincing 3-1 league win in September with a convincing 5-1 victory in the EFL Cup three months later. This comes amid reports that Feyenoord boss Arne Slot is in the running to succeed Klopp at Anfield in the summer.
Under Klopp's guidance, Liverpool has only triumphed in more Premier League games against Crystal Palace than against West Ham. But the Reds haven't defeated the Hammers three times in any of their previous ten campaigns, and this is the eleventh consecutive campaign in which they have met them three or more times.
Similar to Liverpool, West Ham is in deep trouble as a result of a bad run of play that has destroyed their season; they have only won one of their previous seven Premier League games.
After overcoming a 2-1 deficit to upset Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, the Hammers have already lost their previous two games to Fulham and Crystal Palace, who defeated them 5-2 at Selhurst Park last weekend.
After trailing 3-0 in the first 20 minutes, West Ham gave up a fourth goal in the 31st minute to an efficient Eagles team. Jean-Philippe Mateta added a fifth goal shortly after the hour mark, condemning the Hammers to their 12th league loss of the year.
West Ham's "atrocious" loss left David Moyes "embarrassed and disappointed." With a game remaining, they are two points behind seventh-place Newcastle United, while they have fallen five points behind sixth-place Manchester United after their 4-2 victory over Sheffield United.
The Hammers, who lost their most recent game at the London Stadium 2-0 to Fulham, will be looking to avoid losing three straight home games for the first time since November/December 2022. Coming into Saturday's match, they have only won one of their last eight league games played at home, a 4-2 victory over Brentford in February.
Success against Liverpool, meanwhile, would be difficult given that West Ham has lost each of their last five games since a 3-2 home triumph in November 2021 and has been defeated 12 times in their previous 14 Premier League encounters with the Reds.
Team News
Jarrod Bowen, West Ham's standout attacker, is expected to be eligible for selection after missing the team's loss to Palace last weekend due to a back injury. Prior to kickoff, Nayef Aguerd and Konstantinos Mavropanos (both ankle) will be evaluated.
After recovering from a groin injury, Alphonse Areola was able to join the substitutes' bench last time out. On Saturday, he is anticipated to replace Lukasz Fabianski in goal. Moyes may also opt to make changes further up the field, especially in defense and midfield.
Ben Johnson, Aaron Cresswell, and midfielder Kalvin Phillips will all be vying for a spot in the starting lineup. James Ward-Prowse, Lucas Paqueta, and Mohammed Kudus will likely support Michail Antonio up top, while Tomas Soucek and Edson Alvarez will probably hold onto their positions as well.
Regarding Liverpool, Ben Doak and Joel Matip (both knee), Conor Bradley (foot), Thiago Alcantara (muscle), and Diogo Jota (hip) are still out due to injury.
Due to his partner's impending delivery, Cody Gakpo was unable to play in the midweek loss against Everton. It is unclear if the Dutchman will be ready to play on Saturday.
Although Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah have been sluggish lately, they both scored in the league matchup against West Ham at Anfield, thus it seems likely that they will continue to play alongside Luis Diaz up top.
Possible starting lineup:
West Ham United
Areola, Coufal, Zouma, Aguerd, Emerson, Alvarez, Soucek, Kudus, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta, Antonio
Liverpool
Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Van Dijk, Robertson, Szoboszlai, Endo, Mac Allister, Salah, Nunez, Diaz