West Ham v Liverpool – Preview, Predictions and Best Bets

West Ham host Liverpool at London Stadium on Sunday evening in the English Premier League. The sides are separated by just two points and have both won six of their 10 league matches so far. The Reds have been scoring freely in away matches with Salah netting in his last five. West Ham has had a great calendar year with the third-most points in the division.

West Ham Form

West Ham has picked up 62 points in 2021, behind only Man City and Chelsea. Their last ten matches in all competitions have seen just a single defeat. However, the side is better on their travels and have lost two of their last three home matches in the Premier League – both 2-1 losses in matches against Brentford and Man Utd.

That loss to Brentford was followed by a 1-0 win at Everton, a 1-0 home win against Tottenham, and then a 4-1 win at ten-man Aston Villa in the league. Their last match saw a 2-2 draw away at Genk in the Europa League. Said Benrahma scored twice.

West Ham Team News

David Moyes has no injuries to contend with for this match. He rotated a fair bit in the Europa League on Thursday and the likes of Kurt Zouma, Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek will return to the starting XI for this match.

Michail Antonio started in midweek but was substituted after an hour to keep him fresh and fit to face Liverpool. He will lead the line with Pablo Fornals, Bowen, and Benrahma in support. Moyes has to decide between Ben Johnson and Vladimir Coufal at right back.

West Ham Motivation

Moyes will play to win this match with an attacking 4-2-3-1 setup likely to be selected. His side is not always comfortable at home when they need to make the running, so could play this one like an away match.

West Ham could allow Liverpool to have the ball and use Antonio and Bowen to lead counterattacks. A draw would not be a bad result so Moyes could bring on extra defensive players if the scores are level in the second half.

Liverpool Form

Liverpool is 25 matches unbeaten and hasn’t lost since April to Real Madrid. Ten of their 16 matches this season have seen Jurgen Klopp’s side score on three or more occasions. However, they have drawn four of their last eight league matches. They surrendered the lead twice against Brentford in a 3-3 draw and twice in a 2-2 against Man City.

Incredible 5-0 wins followed at Watford and Manchester United but a 2-0 lead was thrown away at Anfield against Brighton last time out in a 2-2 draw. Their last match saw a comfortable 2-0 home win against Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League.

Liverpool Team News

Klopp has a few injuries to deal with as usual. Roberto Firmino went off against Atletico with a hamstring problem and will miss out. James Milner, Curtis Jones, and Naby Keita are all injured in central midfield.

Fabinho and Jordan Henderson will start alongside one of Thiago Alcantara or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Diogo Jota will play up front. Joel Matip is expected to partner Virgil Van Dijk with Ibrahima Konate on the bench and Joe Gomez carrying an injury.

Liverpool Motivation

The Reds are phenomenal on the road right now and have scored at least three goals in each of their last six Premier League away matches, netting 22 goals. They will attack and break at speed when the opposition loses the ball.

The recent spate of draws after throwing away leads means that taking one point from this match would not be seen as a good result – Klopp’s team will go all out to take three points.

Key Stats

West Ham have lost 2 of their last 3 home PL matches

West Ham have conceded 6 goals in their last 4 home PL matches

WHU are 10 PL matches without beating LFC (8 losses, 2 draws)

Liverpool have scored 3+ goals in 5 of their last 7 PL matches against West Ham

Salah has scored in his last 5 away PL matches

LFC have scored 3+ goals in each of their last 6 away PL matches (22 goals total)

West Ham have scored in 12 of their last 13 PL matches

LFC have conceded 2+ goals in 3 of their last 5 PL matches

Verdict

This looks set to be a very entertaining match. Liverpool tends to put teams to the sword on their travels and usually score freely against West Ham. The hosts are dangerous going forward and have enough to at least score once against an inconsistent Reds defence. There could be goals in this match.

Best Bet: Liverpool to score over 2.5 goals at 1.65
Alternative Bet: Liverpool win and both to score at 2.90
Goalscorer Bet: Salah to score 2 or more goals at 5.25
Correct Score Tip: West Ham 1-3 Liverpool at 11.00

James O'Connor

James is a football analyst who writes about the tactics of the PSL and English Premier League. He holds the UEFA A coaching licence and has previously worked for several clubs in analysis roles.Twitter: https://twitter.com/footy_analysis