West Ham will be looking to continue their recent uptick in results and take a huge stride towards Premier League safety at the London Stadium this evening – but they’ll have to overcome Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. The Anfield club have endured a mixed season in the league, but still harbour slim hopes of a top-four finish, currently nine points off Manchester United in fourth having played a game more.
The Hammers have been much improved of late, taking the pressure off under-fire boss David Moyes after their 5-1 defeat to Newcastle by going unbeaten in the five games since, walloping Bournemouth 4-0 last time out in another six-pointer.
Gianluca Scamacca is the only major absence for Moyes’ side, with Pablo Fornals’ quest for a start unsuccessful for now. Roberto Firmino remains sidelined for Liverpool, who are looking for their third consecutive victory this evening but lost on this ground last term. Follow West Ham vs Liverpool updates live below, with expert analysis from Malik Ouzia at the London Stadium.
Live updates
8 min: Sights of goal for Salah and then Gakpo, with West Ham getting bodies on the line to thwart the Liverpool attacking duo.
There’s an early problem for Declan Rice, which might have been contact lens related. Liverpool waste a second corner of the game.
6 min: Jarrod Bowen should have picked out Michail Antonio with his cross there. West Ham are having some joy with their high press in these early stages.
Salah drives Liverpool forward and they get themselves a corner.
More on inverted Trent
4 min: This is my first team seeing Trent Alexander-Arnold in this inverted full-back role in the fresh and I’m interested to see how the balance works. When Arsenal and Manchester City do it, they have a player who is comfortable at centre-back playing on the other flank. Andy Robertson is obviously a proper, traditional full-back.
3 min: Alexander-Arnold is pushing into central midfield already, with Liverpool using that inverted full-back tactic that we’ve seen from Man City and Arsenal this season.
The visitors are enjoying plenty of early possession.
Away kit hoodoo?
1 min: Liverpool are 0-1-4 in their white kit in the league this season, if that’s your bag.
Looking at their fixtures, not sure they’ll be in it again before the end of the campaign. Last chance to shake that hoodoo, which I’m sure was the centrepiece of Jurgen Klopp’s team talk.
KICK OFF
We’re under way at the London Stadium.
The players emerge from the tunnel, the bubbles are out and we’re almost ready to go.
Our reporter assesses tonight’s game
Jurgen Klopp is looking as animated as usual, giving instructions to his players as both sets of players go through their usual pre-match warm-ups.
There are no black-and-white permutations for West Ham tonight, but suffice to say three points would take them to the brink of Premier League survival for another year. They’ve had some hairy moments in the league this season, but it’s always looked fairly likely that the Hammers would stay up – and the faith from the owners in Moyes has been justified with the Europa Conference League run.
Beating Liverpool would take West Ham to 37 points, which in nearly all Premier League seasons has been enough for survival.
