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West Ham United vs Liverpool: 04/02/2019 – match preview and predicted starting XIs

West Ham United vs Liverpool

Date: 04/02/2019

K/O: 20:00

Venue: London Stadium

Referee: Martin Atkinson

TV: Sky Sports Premier League

Monday Night Football sees Liverpool travel to the London Stadium to take on West Ham United.

The Reds will be hoping to return to winning ways after a disappointing 1-1 draw to Leicester City at Anfield. West Ham however, will be desperate to avoid another defeat after seeing their season collapse in the last two weeks. Defeats to AFC Wimbledon in the FA Cup and Wolves in the league have seen them drop out of the top ten and drift out of contention for the cup after a battling performance from the League One outfit.

Jurgen Klopp will be hoping his Liverpool side can take advantage of West Ham’s poor form and pick up maximum points. Liverpool have won their last four games against West Ham scoring four goals on each occasion, conceding just two.

West Ham, on the other hand, will be wanting to stop their current slide down the table. An unlikely win against the league leaders could see them jump up as high as eighth in the league.

Team News

West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini will be sweating on the fitness over striker Marko Arnautovic and goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. Arnautovic was forced off against Wolves with a suspected broken foot. Scans on the foot later showed it was just bad swelling and that he could have an outside chance of featuring against the Reds. With Arnautovic a doubt for the game, this could see Andy Carroll come into the starting line-up for a rare start.

Fabianski was involved in a nasty collision with Matt Doherty and has been feeling pain in his arm since. This injury could force him to miss the game against Liverpool and this would see Adrian come in to replace him.

West Ham will be without as many as six other first-team players as their injury woes continue, including Andriy Yarmolenko, Manuel Lanzini, Jack Wilshere, Fabian Balbuena, Winston Reid and Carlos Sanchez.



Pellegrini should hopefully be able to welcome back Aaron Cresswell to the side after he missed the last two games. This will be a welcome sight for West Ham fans who are running out of patience with current left-back Arthur Masuaku who has been in woeful form of late.

Klopp will be hoping that the four-day gap between their match against Leicester and West Ham will be enough time for his team to recover. Klopp is concerned over the fitness of Virgil Van Dijk, Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum due to their inability to train.

If Henderson is unable to start the game for Liverpool, then Adam Lallana could come into the starting line-up. Lallana has struggled to reclaim his spot in the Liverpool team for a while, though the Englishman could now use this opportunity to put the pressure on Klopp to present him with a starting berth.

Klopp will also be without Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Joe Gomez who are all recovering from longer-term injuries.

Statistics

Liverpool have faced West Ham 45 times in the Premier League, winning 27 times and scoring 85 goals.

West Ham have only kept 10 clean sheets against Liverpool in the Premier League.

Liverpool have a 100% record against West Ham at the London Stadium.

Only Wolves have picked up more points against the top six than West Ham. (Excluding the top six themselves.)

Predicted Starting XIs

West Ham United (4-2-3-1): Adrian, Zabaleta, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble, Rice, Anderson, Nasri, Antonio; Carroll.

Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson, Fabinho, Lovren, Matip, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Lallana; Shaqiri, Firmino, Mane; Salah.



Prediction: West Ham 0 Liverpool 4

Liverpool are clear favourites against West Ham on Monday. The West Ham defence has been appalling in recent weeks, conceding nine goals in their last three games. This game could become a goal-fest for the Reds if Pellegrini fails to motivate the Hammers. If the Chilean is able to harness his team’s abilities, they could potentially harm Liverpool through players like Anderson and Nasri.

West Ham did beat Arsenal recently and were dominant, though if they can find that type of performance then there could be hope for West Ham. Liverpool however, are a different beast to Arsenal and should breeze past West Ham with ease.

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