West Ham 1 Liverpool 2: Joel Matip header ends away kit curse as Reds FINALLY win in white strip
LIVERPOOL’S fright in white is finally over.
On the previous five occasions the Reds have donned their white away kit in the Premier League this season, Jurgen Klopp has been left feeling sickly green.
Four losses, one draw and plenty of horrid memories on the road.
It is anyone’s guess why the Merseyside club’s kitman had not tossed a coloured sock into the wash by now in an attempt to change their fortunes.
Instead, the curse has been broken on outing number six by chucking them into a contest with a touch of Claret and Blue.
They had to do it the hard way in East London, fears of being hung out to dry again arising after Lucas Paqueta’s stunning opener at the London Stadium.
Cody Gakpo grabbed one back with an equally sublime long-ranger in the 18th minute and Joel Matip then rose highest after the break to send Liverpool into sixth.
It is slow progress, but Klopp will be far more optimistic of securing European football next campaign following a third win on the spin, but to ascend higher remains tricky.
David Moyes will feel hard done by, and rightly so, especially after Jarrod Bowen’s second half strike to briefly take the lead was quickly ruled out by VAR while Thiago’s late handball was dismissed.
The Hammers’ three-game unbeaten Prem streak is over, and there is work still to be done to ensure they are not dragged back down into a relegation dog-fight.
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Unsurprisingly, Moyes went unchanged from the impressive four-goal dismantling of Bournemouth on the South Coast at the weekend.
The Scot appears to finally have found a starting XI that is clicking on the pitch, and about time too.
Also coming off the back of an important victory, Klopp would have kept the same team had it not been for an injury to Ibrahima Konate – replaced by Joel Matip.
Yet the more intriguing aspect of Liverpool’s line-up came in the form of their right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who spent the majority of the first half anywhere but right-back.
Drifting into midfield and beyond when his side had the ball, the polarising England international caused heaps of issues for the Hammers.
They struggled to contain his fizzing distribution, not knowing whether to press or back off.
Yet when the visitors lost the ball, Trent was nowhere near where he needed to be far too often as Jordan Henderson huffed and puffed to fill in on the back-track.
Liverpool had won just four out of 16 away games all season before this one, conceding 25 goals in the process – and did their best to offer more up early on.
Virgil van Dijk passed straight to Bowen inside his own box but the following pick-out for an unmarked Michail Antonio was overhit.
Bowen was involved again as Andy Robertson’s interception found its way to Said Benrahma. If the Algerian had opted to shoot first time, the net could have bulged.
Trent slowly began to control and dictate. Gakpo fed Mohamed Salah but Nayef Aguerd was on blocking duty.
And then, the 12th minute, the inevitable – an attack down the right leaving Liverpool outnumbered ending in the hosts deservedly taking the lead.
Benrahma brilliantly controlled a ball from height with the outside of his boot and off Paqueta went, trading passes with Antonio not once but twice.
On the second, the Brazilian’s first-time thumper narrowly avoided Van Dijk and flew past Alisson. A first Prem goal since February for the playmaker and his fourth overall.
The crowd were up, and this should have sparked a barrage to test Liverpool’s shaky and misshapen backline. But then once more, Trent dictated for the leveller.
Into the feet of Gakpo, the Dutchman was simply allowed to turn and shoot from 30 yards to find Lukasz Fabianski’s bottom corner.
That equaliser rattled West Ham, somewhat. Sloppiness crept into their game and the Reds missed some guilt-edged chances via Diogo Jota and Van Dijk.
But again, the gap left at right back by Trent provided a chance to counter. This time, Benrahma took advantage by darting into the box and squaring it across the six-yard box.
Antonio was there to meet it, but so too was Van Dijk with a vital intervention.
By his impeccably high standards, West Ham’s skipper Declan Rice had a quiet half, but came alive 10 minutes after the break with a perfectly-timed tackle to deny Salah.
From there, Paqueta got on his bike and attacked, this time down Liverpool’s left, and played in Bowen who appeared to have beaten the offside trap.
Cutting inside and firing low past Alisson, a jubilant Moyes pumped his fists before VAR spotted a tight offside. Klopp reacted with some changes.
Thiago and Luis Diaz – back from the lengthiest of spells on the sidelines – replaced Henderson and Jota. Less than 10 minutes later, Klopp was the one celebrating.
Two corners in quick succession. The first saw Matip somehow miss from a few yards out with a toe-prod. He made up for it on the second with an unstoppable header from a whipped Robertson delivery.
Moyes spent the final few minutes berating the officials for failing to give what looked a stone-wall penalty for a Thiago handball to no avail.
You can follow how the game unfolded in our live blog below…