Goals in both halves from Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio earns the Hammers a
point against a low on confidence Liverpool side.
With five minutes on the clock Lucas Paqueta was lucky to escape at least a booking
after his high challenge on Alexis Mac Allister, the Argentine was down for two
minutes of play.
Harvey Elliot’s effort in the tenth minute was the first opportunity in the game, Andy
Robertson’s cross was flicked on by Cody Gakpo to Elliot at the back post. All the
Englishmen could do though was hit the side netting.
Elliot was involved once again. His square pass was picked up by Tomas Soucek, he
then set it off to Bowen who was 25 yards out from goal. Unfortunately, his attempt
was a simple save for Alisson.
In the twenty-sixth minute there was a close VAR call to deny Liverpool a penalty,
Trent Alexander Arnold played a ball in behind Vladimir Coufal, Diaz picked out
Gakpo in the box who was brought down by Ogbonna. Fortunately, Diaz was offside
in the build-up and there was no penalty awarded to the away side.
Liverpool’s recent defeats looked to be affecting their performance in that first half as
they were wasteful in possession and struggled to create any clear-cut chances. One
player who was trying to make a difference for Liverpool was Luis Diaz, he took on
Coufal and cut inside only to be denied by the post.
Jarrod Bowen finally broke the deadlock after forty-four minutes. A short corner
caught Liverpool out after Kudus crossed it into Bowen, the Englishmen’s finish was
exceptional as he headed it down into the ground giving Alisson no chance.
Bowen’s goal was his twentieth in all competitions, the most by any West Ham
player in twenty-four years after Paulo Di Canio.
We went into the break 1-0 up after a strong half after limiting Liverpool to any big
opportunities at goal.
Whatever Klopp said to his players at half-time seemed to be working a treat, two
minutes into the second half and Andy Robertson equalised. His side footed finish
somehow managed to squeeze through several bodies, Areola will be disappointed
with the goal after getting a hand to Robertson’s attempt.
Three minutes later and Ryan Gravenberch had Areola scrambling, Cody Gakpo
picked out Gravenberch, however the midfielders flicked attempt wasn’t accurate
enough causing it to trickle past the post and go out for a goal-kick.
The pressure was starting to build on us and it was no surprise when Liverpool
added a second, Gakpo miscued his effort inside the box causing it to hit Ogbonna
and end up going past Areola, there was nothing the Italian could do about it.
Just like in the first half, Diaz carried on causing trouble for our defence. From the
left he came inside after some poor defending from Zouma and managed to get a
shot off at goal, Areola came to the rescue to deny him from adding Liverpool’s third.
After a difficult spell in the second half, we then started to get on the ball more,
Bowen started to show his quality by picking out Antonio from a cross where our
number nine guided his header past Alisson to make it 2-2.
One minute from time and it looked that Liverpool had stolen all three points, Darwin
Nunez managed to do well to recover a poor pass by Mohamed Salah. The striker
passed it to Elliot who tested his luck twenty-four yards out from goal, like Diaz in the
first half Elliot was denied by the woodwork as his attempt hit the crossbar, Areola
will be thanking the woodwork later today.
This result leaves us in eighth position, four points off Newcastle who have a game
in hand.
Guest post by Rory Matloob