Alisson Becker's own goal and second half goals from Pablo Fornals and Kurt Zouma helped West Ham United to secure three points and Leapfrog Liverpool into third spot in the points table.
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West Ham United beat Liverpool in a thrilling encounter at London stadium on Sunday. The win helped Hammers to leapfrog Liverpool into third spot in the Premier League table. The hosts took an early lead courtesy of a Pablo Fornals corner kick which skimmed off the glove of Alisson Becker and went in. Liverpool leveled the score, before the break, through Trent Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick goal. Meanwhile after the break, Fornals restored the lead and then Kurt Zouma’s header made the score 3-1 for West Ham. Although Divock Origi reduced the deficit for Liverpool with a late goal, West Ham held on for their fourth straight Premier League win.
West Ham opened the scoring within four minutes of kick-off as Fornals’ in-swinging corner kick from the left flank went over the head of Alisson and into the goal. Although there was a VAR check for a possible foul on Alisson by Angelo Ogbonna, replays showed that the Brazilian had in fact diverted the ball into his own net as the ball skimmed his glove and the goal was given. It went down as an own goal by Alisson.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp wasn’t happy with the decision as he said, after the match, it was a “clear foul” on Alisson for the goal. Despite conceding the goal, the Reds continued to play their natural game as they kept the ball possession and attacked. Just after the half-hour mark, Diogo Jota’s header from Henderson’s cross went just over the crossbar. Few minutes later, Mo Salah won a free-kick from Declan Rice on the edge of the box. Alexander-Arnold stepped up and curled the ball past Lukasz Fabianski and into the top corner, four minutes from break.
The second half was more of an end-to-end affair as both sides created chances. Meanwhile West Ham were much more clinical with their counter-attacks. David Moyes’ side let the opposition keep the ball and opted to hit them on the counter when the chances arrived.
One such breakaway move led to West Ham’s second goal of the night. Jarrod Bowen collected the ball in the middle of the park and dribbled past three Liverpool players before setting up Fornals to slot home from the edge of the box.
Meanwhile West Ham were also lethal with their set-pieces. The tall players in Moyes’ side were using their physicality and height to good effect and the Liverpool defence struggled to cope with that. In the 74th minute, the home side doubled the lead as Bowen’s corner-kick from the right flank was headed home by Zouma at the far post.
Since Moyes’ took charge of West Ham in January 2020, they have scored 32 Premier League goals from set-piece situations, five more than any other side. Seven minutes from time, substitute Origi halved the deficit with a brilliant turn and finish from the edge of the box.
Liverpool should have levelled the score in the stoppage time, but Sadio Mane’s close range header from Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick missed the target.
Moyes said after the match: “It is a brilliant victory against a really good team. We played Thursday night too and to put in a performance with the energy to hang in at the end is great for the players.
“Liverpool have been so good with the ball, I think they have improved. We tried to shore up a bit, I didn’t like a bit how we played in the second half so we did a little change and it worked. We played so well in the second half. We got three goals and on another day maybe could have got more.
“Last year we tried to get at them and they picked us off sometimes so we had to be a bit patient.
“I remember when I came everyone said the London Stadium was not the same. Everyone in football knows if you can get a team winning and trying every game you will get supporters backing you wherever. The supporters backed us today.”
Klopp said “The first goal is a foul on the goalie. The arm goes against Alisson’s arm so how can he catch the ball when someone pulls his arm away? It makes no sense. It’s the typical excuse that VAR says it’s not clear and obvious but then what do you need?
“What can [Alisson] do? That’s why the goalie is protected in moments. If a player goes up with his arm for a goalie that’s an important position of the body and if that’s in the way how can he make a save?
