Liverpool vs West Ham United. Premier League.
AnfieldAttendance53,346.
Match report and highlights as Darwin Nunez makes it three goals in four games as he helps Liverpool follow their win over Manchester City with victory over West Ham; Jarrod Bowen had a penalty saved on the stroke of half-time and Tomas Soucek was denied by a James Milner block late on
Thursday 20 October 2022 06:30, UK
Darwin Nunez's first Anfield goal for Liverpool and Jarrod Bowen's penalty miss helped Jurgen Klopp's side back-up Sunday's win over Manchester City with another three Premier League points in their 1-0 victory over West Ham.
The Uruguayan, like his team-mates, seems to be finding some form and thumped a first-half header into the ground and past Lukasz Fabianski for his third goal in four games - and could have had another before the break when he blasted a shot against a post.
"He's an exceptional talent," Liverpool boss Klopp told Amazon afterwards. "The runs, the speed, physicality and finishing skills... He has a really good technique. Sometimes he's in a rush but we're really excited about it. When you're young, you have time to develop and you have to develop."
Liverpool were dominant in that first half but they had a let-off just before the interval when Bowen struck a penalty at a comfortable height for Alisson to save, after Joe Gomez's clumsy challenge on the Hammers' forward was reviewed by VAR.
After a triple change early in the second half, Liverpool resumed their control of the contest and should have added more goals, with Roberto Firmino and Curtis Jones going close before Kurt Zouma deflected Jordan Henderson's cross onto his own bar.
However, Liverpool's wastefulness gave West Ham hope of grabbing something late on and it took a crucial block from James Milner to prevent Tomas Soucek equalising from close range with three minutes to play.
Ultimately, though, West Ham, who beat Liverpool in London last season, were defeated on the road for a 10th time this calendar year and David Moyes' record of never having won at Anfield goes on. This defeat leaves them 13th in the table, while those consecutive wins now have Liverpool seventh.
Four days on from beating defending champions Manchester City, Liverpool aimed to maintain their revival against a side who have a sorry record at Anfield. West Ham had won on just one of their last 49 league trips here, although it was Alisson in the Liverpool goal who was looking nervy early on, sending a couple of passes straight to the opposition.
That seemed to set the tone for Liverpool's build-up play, with some loose passes stalling their progress up the pitch - but once they did make their way into the final third they came alive.
Fabianski had to tip over a rasping Nunez strike from an angle on 15 minutes but he was soon picking the ball out of his net when the Uruguayan headed in off the turf. Nunez's ecstatic celebrations showed what his first goal at this stadium in a red shirt meant to him.
The Reds kept the pressure on, with Fabianski having to save at his near post from Nunez seconds after the restart before Mohamed Salah got a taste for the action, shooting wide, over and then at the West Ham goalkeeper before Nunez crashed another effort against a post.
It was all Liverpool - until Gomez gave the visitors a lifeline on the brink of half-time. His challenge on Bowen, as the West Ham forward tried to bring the ball down on his chest in the box, was clumsy and unnecessary, with his opponent going away from goal. He was initially let off but VAR advised Stuart Attwell to take another look.
Bowen's spot-kick was West Ham's first shot of the half but it was a poor one, at a generous height for Alisson to push it away. That is the second penalty West Ham have missed this season, after Declan Rice's error against Nottingham Forest in August.
Jordan Henderson and Nunez shot over early in the second half but with Liverpool not looking quite as authoritative as before the break, Klopp made a triple change before the hour, with Fabinho, Harvey Elliott and Jones sent on to living things up.
It seemed to be the spark Liverpool needed, with a series of chances coming and going for Roberto Firmino, who was denied by a good block from Aaron Cresswell and saw a shot stopped at close range by Fabianski before Jones blasted over.
West Ham mustered half-chances for Said Benrahma and Gianluca Scamacca either side of Zouma almost turning into his own net but with Liverpool still only leading by one in the final minutes, the visitors played on some nerves and almost grabbed an equaliser when Bowen squared for Soucek - but Milner popped up at the vital moment.
Milner was a key player against Man City on Sunday and his decisive intervention on Wednesday helped Liverpool seal a follow-up win. The performance may not have been their best but it was another step in the right direction.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp on Amazon: "I like a lot of parts in the first half when we played exceptional football. As long as we played football, we were in charge of the game. For some reason, we couldn't do that consistently and the game opened up. The long ball, physicality, they're good at set-pieces... We could have done better but the result is outstanding. There were a lot of moments where we wanted to play more football.
"In between the lines, they had no solutions for us. Fabio received a lot of balls there and Bobby too, and we turned but there were not enough options. We scored a wonderful goal, and Ali doesn't just score or set up goals but he saves them. That was a key moment, that's it.
"If you beat Man City, it's the best you can be. The other weeks are more difficult. We went through so many difficult moments together and it's not done yet. Now we have to go to Nottingham - with the link between the two clubs, it will be a special game. It will be a crazy atmosphere. We have to go, go and go. We can't be picky, we have to take points from everywhere."
On Nunez and why he subbed him off after 57 minutes: "We must be careful with the boys, they all had their issues. The chances he had were exceptional. It's really difficult. In the air, he's a real weapon. The other ones, great saves from Fabianski. He's young, really young and he felt a bit of his hamstring a couple of times. Then you have to make early changes which is fine, we can do that.
"I expect him to put it in the back of the net. He's an exceptional talent. The runs, the speed, physicality and finishing skills. He has a really good technique and sometimes he doesn't use them all the time. Sometimes he's in a rush. We're really excited about it. When you're young, you have time to develop and you have to develop."
West Ham boss David Moyes on Amazon: "Really frustrated. In the end, I don't think it would be right if we got something. We are not scoring enough at the moment and there were a few opportunities we didn't quite take.
"Ultimately, we gave the ball away an awful amount in the opening part of the game. That gave Liverpool opportunities to take chances. It was much better in the second half.
"I take a lot of pride of coming here and running them close. Last couple of years we run them close. I thought we could have got a goal that would have got a draw. It's all good saying what we have to do. We haven't done it yet.
"The performance was good, even in the bits in the first half where we didn't play well. We tried to play well and take opportunities. We hung in and stuck at it, second half we tried to do it as well. We took a few risks to get a goal back."
On the penalty and the miss: "I thought it was a penalty. I've not seen it again. My first eye is that the boy's foot was high up and pretty dangerous.
"It's hugely disappointing [to miss another penalty]. You've got to keep getting them and hoping we score them. Mark Noble was brilliant at them, we nearly relied on him he was so good. We are finding that penalty taker to score them. I fancied Jarrod to score. I'll have a think about [changing it] but it's not the time."
Gareth Southgate was watching on but he would not have been overly impressed by much of what he saw from some of his England contingent. Joe Gomez gave away a needless and clumsy penalty, Jarrod Bowen missed that spot-kick and Trent Alexander-Arnold failed to produce a statement performance on his first start since Reece James' knee injury.
Declan Rice and Jordan Henderson put in solid if unspectacular performances in midfield, while Liverpool youngsters Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott only had limited time to show what they could do from the bench.
Bournemouth visit West Ham on Monday Night Football at the London Stadium at 8pm in the Premier League, while Nottingham Forest host Liverpool at the City Ground on Saturday; kick-off 12.30pm.
