Liverpool have put the pressure back on Manchester City in the Premier League title race by beating West Ham at Anfield, courtesy of a solitary strike by Sadio Mane in the 27th minute.
The Reds are now only three points behind City at the top of the table with the same number of matches played. The defending champions will have a chance to pull away again today (Sunday), though they will be facing Manchester United in the city derby, and United have won this particular fixture for three seasons in a row.
West Ham
David Moyes has never led a team to victory at Anfield, despite the fact that he was in charge at Everton for eight years and one at Manchester United, before his double stint at West Ham. He wasn’t likely to start now, with Liverpool on form as they are, but he still managed to prepare his team for this encounter rather well.
The difference in quality between the two teams is quite large in Liverpool’s favour, but having beaten Liverpool at the London Stadium in early November, Moyes managed to keep that difference barely notable once more. In fact, with a bit more luck, the match could’ve ended differently again.
The Hammers mostly kept their focus and defended rather resiliently, and Michail Antonio managed to cause quite a few problems at the other end, mostly targeting duels with Ibrahima Konate to avoid dealing with Virgil van Dijk. He helped his team create a couple of excellent chances to score, but their lack of concentration at crucial moments in front of Alisson Becker’s goal helped the Brazil international keep another clean sheet for his team.
All in all, losing 1-0 at Anfield is by no means a poor result for West Ham.
Diaz – Mane – Salah
Jurgen Klopp and the Liverpool supporters will have been extremely happy with the performance of Luis Diaz again. Despite the availability of Diogo Jota, Klopp opted to continue with the Colombian on the left side of attack, Mane through the middle and Mohamed Salah on the right.
Diaz was constantly a handful for any West Ham player that tried to stop him. His close control of the ball is sometimes hard to believe, and he’s very difficult to bring down or even slow down without going in for a blatant foul. He works hard from the beginning to the end and even though he’s been on Merseyside for just over a month, he’s already proven he can be counted on against any opposition out there.
But the best thing of it all from Liverpool’s point of view is that it still seems his vast talents can be honed further, much further. With just a little bit tweaking of his decision-making process, which will certainly come as he gets to know his teammates better, this is a world-class player in the making.
Meanwhile, Mane continues to do an excellent job in covering for the absence of Roberto Firmino in the central attacking areas. Once more he was all over the place, winning the ball or dropping deep to receive it, moving left or right as need commanded, and the goal he scored was a display of proper poacher’s instinct.
As for Salah, the Egyptian didn’t seem quite up to his usual standards, though the fact that he was relentlessly marked throughout probably has a lot to do with it. Whenever the ball went his way, he was facing three or four opponents which closed him down straight away. So, even when he managed to fool one or two (and it did happen a few times), the others were there to help crowd him out.
More incredible numbers
Mane’s goal was his 12th in the Premier League season, making his tally equal to that of Diogo Jota. The only player to have scored more is – Mohamed Salah with 19. Amazingly enough, Liverpool also lead the way in terms of assists, with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s pass that found Mane for the goal being his 11th. The second place belongs to Salah with 10, and the third to Alexander-Arnold’s counterpart on the left, Andy Robertson, with nine.
But there is a record that was broken in this match, and not by any of the players mentioned. It’s the work of Virgil van Dijk, who has now played 60 league matches at Anfield, winning 52, drawing eight and losing none. It’s the longest streak of home matches without defeat by any player in the Premier League ever.
60 – Virgil van Dijk has never been on the losing side for Liverpool in 60 Premier League games at Anfield, setting a new record for most home games for a single club without ever losing in the competition (W52 D8). Imperious. pic.twitter.com/3WAjoBSrBO
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 5, 2022
The Dutch centre-back can hardly be disputed as the best in the trade at the moment. West Ham striker Antonio is by no means a player who shies away from a challenge, but even he repeatedly chose to drift away from Van Dijk and compete with other defenders whenever he could. The sheer power and elegance of Van Dijk commanding Liverpool’s back line is amazing.
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