West Ham look to cause a surprise as Liverpool visit the London Stadium in a huge Premier League clash.
Victory would see West Ham climb above Liverpool into third but a win would see Jurgen Klopp’s Reds reclaim second and move to within a point of league leaders, Chelsea.
Team News
Andriy Yarmolenko and Nikola Vlasic are doubts for West Ham after missing Thursday’s Europa League draw against Genk with knocks.
Liverpool will be without Roberto Firmino for up to a month with a hamstring injury.
James Milner, Naby Keita (both hamstring), Joe Gomez (calf), Curtis Jones (eye) and Harvey Elliott (ankle) are definitely ruled out.
Stat Attack
- West Ham are winless in their last ten league meetings against Liverpool (D2, L8).
- Liverpool are unbeaten in their last five away trips to West Ham (W4, D1).
- Mohamed Salah has scored three goals in his last two away appearances for Liverpool against West Ham.
- One of Michail Antonio’s 35 shots in nine league appearances for West Ham this season has hit the woodwork.
- Coming into this matchweek, no Liverpool player has had more touches on the ball than Virgil Van Dijk with the Dutchman touching the ball 825 times in ten league appearances.
Prediction
After delivering a clinical yet aggressive performance in last weekend’s league win at Aston Villa, West Ham know that they will need a similar performance if they’re to take the fight to Liverpool, especially after enduring a tough scrappy 2-2 draw at Genk on Thursday evening in Europa League.
Liverpool meanwhile bounced back in midweek with a clinically well-managed victory over Atletico Madrid, after suffering a defensive meltdown in their last league match which allowed Brighton to recover from two goals down to snatch a point.
Now if there is one certainty here then it has to be goals given the league form of both teams but Liverpool have the physiological head-to-head advantage coming to this match, which will pump them further up although defensive focus will be key for them to keep a clean sheet.
Aaron Cresswell though has been the weak link for David Moyes’ Hammers in recent meetings given his issues in marking Salah so if he is dropped, I expect West Ham to really be able to cause massive issues so a draw would be the best bet here unless Liverpool’s defence is on top form.
Prediction: West Ham 1-1 Liverpool
Result: West Ham 3-2 Liverpool