Liverpool will look to bounce back from their defeat to Fulham when they welcome West Ham this weekend.
The Reds had the chance to move 14 points clear of Arsenal and basically seal the Premier League title, but they were beaten 3-2 at Craven Cottage.
Arne Slot‘s men are wobbling a bit, having crashed out of the Champions League and lost the Carabao Cup final to Newcastle United all within the space of four games.
Certainly, he won’t want the season to end with a whimper, and they will look to get back on track here.
Meanwhile, West Ham haven’t won since a league game since February.
Graham Potter‘s men are going to stay up comfortably, but they will want to take some momentum into next year.
Liverpool vs West Ham: Double bubble
talkSPORT understands that Liverpool are optimistic that Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah will sign new two-year deals at Anfield.
The duo’s current contracts are set to expire at the end of the season, and there has been so much talk about them possibly leaving.
However, it is increasingly looking like they won’t be joining Trent Alexander-Arnold in departing from Merseyside this summer.
Both players have been integral to Slot’s title charge this year, with Salah putting up extraordinary numbers and Van Dijk rolling back the years.
To get them both tied down would be a great start to what could be a busy summer at Anfield.
- Liverpool have lost just one of their last 57 home games against West Ham in all competitions (W42 D14), winning each of their last nine in a row.
- Since doing the Premier League double over Liverpool in 2015-16, West Ham have won just one of their last 17 against them in the competition (D3 L13), picking up a 3-2 home win in November 2021.
- Liverpool have beaten West Ham 5-1 in the EFL Cup and 5-0 in the Premier League already this season. No English top-flight team has ever scored 5+ goals against another three times in the same season before.
Liverpool vs West Ham: Team news
The hosts will hope to have Alisson Becker back in goal after he failed a concussion test last weekend.
If he still isn’t fit, Caoimhin Kelleher will fill in once more.
Alexander-Arnold is still out, leaving a dilemma at right-back, though Conor Bradley is back, so should slide into the team.
Joe Gomez is also on the sidelines.
West Ham are without Michail Antonio who is recovering after a horrific car crash.
Crysencio Summerville and Aaron Cresswell are doubts.
- West Ham are without a win in their last four Premier League games (D2 L2), last going longer without a win in the league in February 2024 (6).
- Liverpool have won each of their last five Premier League games at Anfield, last winning more in a row in December 2023 (7). The Reds have won 11 of their 13 home league games (D2) since their last defeat at Anfield in the competition to Nottingham Forest in September.
- Only Everton (11), Southampton (12), and Leicester City (14) have scored fewer away goals in the Premier League this season than West Ham (15), this despite the Hammers only failing to score in two of their 15 away games in the competition this season, with only Liverpool (0), Brighton (1), and Fulham (1) doing so less often.
Liverpool vs West Ham: What has been said?
After losing just their second league game of the season, Slot has downplayed any concerns around his team’s defending.
He said: “There’s always a lot of attention around Liverpool.
“That doesn’t start now, that’s been there the whole season.
“Of course, people want to make stories but for me it’s all about playing Fulham. They’re a good team, and if you then make three errors it’s going to be very difficult to win the game against them.
“In general, we are not making many of these errors, let alone three in one game. Today, we also had (Ibrahima) Konate losing the ball too.
“The second half was so much better than the first, but it’s hard to win a game of football at this level if you concede three goals like this.
“You could feel that we were creating a lot of chances, we’ve had a few but unfortunately we lacked time in the end to score the third goal. That has to do with us conceding three goals, because to score three in an away game is very hard especially against a good team like Fulham.”
- West Ham’s Graham Potter is unbeaten in his last three Premier League games at Anfield (W1 D2), two with Brighton in 2021 and one with Chelsea in 2023. The last manager to avoid defeat in four successive away games at Liverpool in the competition was Sam Allardyce from 2016 to 2020.
- Mohamed Salah hasn’t scored or assisted a goal in any of his last four games for Liverpool in all competitions, his longest run without a goal involvement for the club since March 2021 (also 4). Only in March 2019 has he ever gone five appearances without a goal or assist for the Reds.
- Excluding own goals, Jarrod Bowen has been directly involved in six of West Ham’s last seven goals against Liverpool in all competitions (3 goals, 3 assists). Indeed, since the start of last season, no player has more goals (3, level with Alexander Isak) or goal involvements (4, level with Isak and Dominic Solanke) against the Reds than Bowen.
- Luis Díaz has scored (1) or assisted (3) a goal in each of his last four Premier League appearances for Liverpool, the longest ever run of goal involvements by a Colombian in the competition. His four goal involvements in this time are as many as his previous 17 league appearances beforehand, and his three assists as many as he had provided in his previous 34.
Liverpool vs West Ham: Date and how to follow
This Premier League game is set to take place on Sunday, April 13.
Kick-off at Anfield is scheduled for 2pm.
The game will be shown on Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League.
Sky Go customers will be able to watch through their laptops and mobile devices.
Alternatively, a NOW TV pass can be purchased that will show the match. Head here for more information on packages.
talkSPORT will have updates throughout the afternoon and talkSPORT.com will have all the action in our dedicated Premier League blog.
To tune in to talkSPORT through the website, click HERE for the live stream.
You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
