West Ham v Liverpool preview by Simon Leyland
Well, what a week !
It was just over two weeks ago when we crumbled at home 5-1 to Newcastle. Relegation was now a distinct possibility, but then we ground out an away win at Fulham followed by nicking a point off the league leaders Arsenal; and then our midweek heroics against Gent.
But yesterday saw perhaps our best performance of the season.
We now sit in 13th place, and while that is still a number of positions below where we would have hoped to finish before the campaign started, we now have a fighting chance. Believe it or not we are only five points behind Chelsea!
West Ham v Liverpool is the midweek game
We have always known that we have had a strong squad, as exemplified by the two stars who have stood out lately. The invaluable Declan Rice who scored again against Bournemouth and the ex-Lyon man Lucas Paquetá who is finally showing the skills and quality that got us to sign him in the first place, creating chances, scoring a goal of his own against the Cherries, and adding tenacious ball-winning with 11 tackles of his own in the last three league outings.
It is great to see Paqueta find his form, his flicks and super quick passing are starting to become more effective and his teammates getting more attuned to them. If it all clicked with those in front of him we would be unstoppable.
Early goals are key for our confidence, as we noticeably relaxed once those two headers had gone in, and controlled the game even with very little possession (32%)
Next up for the Irons is a mid-week test in the form of West Ham v Liverpool.
The Reds are beginning to stir into life again, and this match will help us learn more about how far along we have come on, in trying to finish the domestic season on a positive note.