Liverpool Match Preview

After losing their unbeaten home run to Manchester City eight days ago, West Ham United will try and avoid suffering the same fate on the road. Mind you, just like last weekend, it will be another tough test, as they play Liverpool at Anfield this afternoon.

The Hammers are still hanging onto sixth place in the Premier League table and will be hoping that the hosts don’t hand out a damaging defeat, together with Aston Villa claiming a result at Chelsea.

Jürgen Klopp’s Reds remain unbeaten after five games and would obviously aim to keep that record intact but they will be wary of a side which have taken seven points from their road trips this season and would want to go to Merseyside with the intention of becoming the first team to grab three points from there this season.

The factor that could swing in favour of the visitors here is that although both sides were in action in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night, Liverpool had to travel to Austria for their encounter against LASK so, while neither team will have an advantage in terms of an extra day’s preparation, the East Londoners may be the fresher of the two teams going into this game.

Don’t forget, after this match, both sides face quick turnarounds, as they are back in action in midweek when they open their respective Carabao Cup campaigns.

If West Ham do manage to take three points back to East London with them, it will be the first time that David Moyes has ever experienced a top-flight victory at Anfield. Remember, he had the same burden hanging over him at both The American Express Stadium and Old Trafford until recently so, why not have a try at conquering the red half of Merseyside for the first time?

Jarrod Bowen may have featured against FK TSC Bačka Topola three days ago but, Moyes explained in his pre-match news conference ahead of this game on Friday that the former Hull City winger wasn’t included due to a virus, meaning he will have to be assessed. Otherwise, the manager is likely to restore the other eight players that missed out to the starting line-up.

Both Konstantinos Mavropanos and Mohammed Kudus will now be looking to start their first Premier League games after making their full debuts for the club last time out. Edson Álvarez is likely to return to the midfield and replace Pablo Fornals.

The match is a 2pm kick-off and the referee is Christopher Kavanagh.