LIVERWÜRST
Liverpool 2 West Ham 1
Anfield, home of Gerry Marsden’s great number one hit, ‘I Like It.’ Any result other than a defeat is called for tonight, so we can all ‘like it’.
Manuel Lanzini, the architect of Hammers’ 3-0 here in August 2015, is on the bench with Saïd Benrahma, who has taken the number 9 West Ham shirt. Vic Watson, Carlton Cole and Geoff Hurst wore it too. It’s a goal scoring shirt number, but Benrahma fashions as well as finishes. West Ham start well and a great early cross from Coufal wins a corner in the ninth minute, but nothing comes of it. A minute later Arthur Masuaku hits in another cross which Joe Gomez can only head out to Fornals, who hammers in a low eleventh-minute opener. DEE-LISCH!
Liverpool are looking to go a record 63rd game unbeaten. This would take Klopp level with Shankly. We really should help preserve Shanks’ record. He and Klopp are probably the two best-ever Liverpool managers, with little to divide them. We wouldn’t want to split loyalties. Shanks was right. It’s much more important than that.
Fornals’ form has been one of the reasons West Ham have been playing so well, and his ability to score on the road – this his second career goal at Anfield – has given Stam a great start. Bill Leslie, Sky’s commentator for the game, calls Tomas Soucek ‘sow-check’ as in ‘sour’. Yet another incorrect pronunciation. Jose Mourinho went one better, calling Soucek ‘Marouane Fellaini’.
Henderson meanwhile activates the Liverpool crowd cheer button with a low shot from outside the area which has Fabianski scuttling across his goal, but the ball goes wide of his right hand post. Leslie calls Coufal ‘Coufal’ which correct if he says it as he sees it. However ‘C’ is pronounced ‘Ts’ with a Czech tongue, so he’s done himself twice. Who’d be a commentator in these days of multifarious footy names?
Half an hour gone and Hammers are holding their lead and still attacking and countering well. At the other end Mane and Robertson combine effortlessly, but the finish is skied well over. Liverpool fashion a free kick opportunity for Trent Alexander-Arnold to unleash both of his barrels, but the Hammers’ wall holds firm. But the error, and who can afford errors against this lot, finally happens. Its Masuaku, previously the assist king, who gives away an unnecessary penalty, tapping at Mo Salah’s foot from behind. Has he cancelled out his assist? It’s majorly soft. Salah has scored all of his last four pens and got one late in Liverpool’s midweek Champions League outing against Danish champions Midtjylland. He hits it straight down the middle past Fabianski, who dives out the way to his left. Hammers threw away their lead last season, too. Bah. Level at half-time? I’ll take that.
The second half could go one of three ways, but only one of these is the favourite, and it involves Liverpool scoring again at least once. Five minutes in and Masuaku is creating chances again, his cross reaching Fornals who scuffs his shot which Ramses eventually grabs at with gratitude. These middle of the second half periods are usually the ones that produce the point-securing moments for West Ham. All that can be said for this evening is that they are not currently being overrun. For some reason I am thinking about Benrahma’s role in this side, though he is unlikely to see action unless West Ham go behind.
Declan Rice is magnificent, leading the side out of defence time and time again. Haller is leading the line tonight in the absence of Antonio, but his touch still looks a little heavy at times. Great in the air, though. Cresswell looks to have done his groin in stretching for a loose ball, and Nolan has his iPad out, barking orders. In the meantime Fornals has another shot blocked when a real chance for a goal looked on… then a brilliant last second tackle at the other end by Ogbonna when Mane looked through. We’re in the seventieth minute and on comes Shaqiri… and Diego Jota… uh oh. Ante upped. Salah shoots wide.
Yarmolenko replaces Haller, who has missed his first Premier League start opportunity to look like a decent replacement for Antonio. Just fifteen minutes left. West Ham are so good at fashioning defeat from point-winning positions, and matched with Liverpool’s ability to finish well, my nails are bitten. Now comes a key moment. Mane dives in on Ogbonna and then Fabianski and the ball runs loose for Jota to hit home. Question is did Mane foul Fabianski? Maybe he fouled Ogbonna? Long, long VAR. No resolution, and the ref is sent to the screen by the tunnel and he rules it out. No matter. Four minutes from time Jota runs through to hit the winner, slipped in by Shakiri, as the strikers outnumber West Ham’s defence. A substitution masterclass. No surprise, sadly. Benrahma and Lanzini come on for a couple of thumb-twiddling moments, but in the end it’s same old same old… and, like last season, harsh.
Next week offers up Fulham at home on a late pay-per-view opportunity. Where will you be putting your money?
1 Lucasz Fabianski, 21 Angelo Ogbonna, 4 Fabian Balbuena, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 5 Vladimir Coufal, 41 Declan Rice (c), 28 Tomas Soucek, 26 Arthur Masuaku, 20 Jarrod Bowen, 22 Sébastien Haller, 18 Pablo Fornals
Substitutes: 7 Andriy Yarmolenko, 9 Saïd Benrahma, 10 Manuel Lanzini
Scorer: 18 Pablo Fornals
