(Football news) The Hammers, who have suffered disappointing losses to Fulham and Crystal Palace in their previous two Premier League games, are also looking to get back on track. The onus was on Liverpool to bounce back against Merseyside rivals Everton with a win in order to stay within striking distance of the Premier League leaders after Arsenal’s resounding 5-0 victory over Chelsea on Tuesday.
But on Wednesday at Goodison Park, Jurgen Klopp’s team was soundly defeated 2-0. Goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin either side of halftime condemned the Reds to their second league loss in three games, severely undermining their chances of winning the championship.
While captain Virgil van Dijk has surprisingly questioned the desire of his teammates, Klopp acknowledged after the match that his side were simply “not good enough” and has apologised for their abject performance. The German has also admitted that Liverpool “need a crisis at Man City and Arsenal” to remain in the three-way title race.
With four matches left to play, Liverpool sit second in the Premier League table and three points behind leaders Arsenal, but reigning champions Man City in third crucially have two games in hand, including a trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Thursday.
Amid reports that Feyenoord boss Arne Slot is in the frame to succeed Klopp at Anfield in the summer, Liverpool will welcome an encounter with West Ham on Saturday as they have already beaten the Hammers twice this season in all competitions by an aggregate score of 8-2, following up a 3-1 league win in September with a convincing 5-1 victory in the EFL Cup three months later.
Liverpool have only won more Premier League games against Crystal Palace (13) than they have against West Ham (12) under the tutelage of Klopp. However, this is the 11th different campaign in which the Reds have faced the Hammers on three or more occasions and they have never beaten them three times in any of their previous 10.
Like Liverpool, West Ham find themselves down in the dumps following a poor run of form that has derailed their season, winning just one of their last seven Premier League games.
Since coming from behind to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 at Molineux, the Hammers have suffered back-to-back defeats at the hands of Fulham and Crystal Palace, the latter put them to the sword 5-2 at Selhurst Park last weekend.
West Ham were three goals down inside the opening 20 minutes and then conceded a fourth in the 31st minute against a clinical Eagles outfit, who added a fifth through Jean-Philippe Mateta just after the hour mark to condemn the Hammers to their 12th league defeat of the season.
David Moyes was left “embarrassed and disappointed” after West Ham’s “atrocious” defeat, which leaves them sitting eighth in the table and two points behind seventh-placed Newcastle United, who have a game in hand, while they have slipped five points behind sixth-placed Manchester United following their 4-2 win over Sheffield United.
The Hammers, who lost their most recent game at the London Stadium 2-0 to Fulham, will be looking to avoid losing three straight home games for the first time since November/December 2022. Coming into Saturday’s match, they have only won one of their last eight league games played at home, a 4-2 victory over Brentford in February.
Success against Liverpool, meanwhile, would be difficult given that West Ham has lost each of their last five games since a 3-2 home triumph in November 2021 and has been defeated 12 times in their previous 14 Premier League encounters with the Reds.
Also read: Manchester United will play Burnley in EPL
