Reds hope to retain 22 point lead with victory over West Ham

In their first Monday night bout of the season, Liverpool host relegation threatened West Ham United at Anfield.

As Manchester City picked up a win at the Kingpower Stadium against Leicester City, a molecule of pressure may be on the back of Jurgen Klopp and his men as they head towards a first Premier League title.

Their opponents, West Ham United, fronted by David Moyes, are in a dire situation.

They are the third occupants of the dreaded relegation zone alongside Norwich City and Watford, and although the task ahead of them is massive they could escape with a win or draw.

Moyes’ boys have failed to really gather a run of form since a good run earlier on in the season under Manuel Pellegrini – but the acquisitions of Jarrod Bowen, Darren Randolph and Tomas Soucek will hopefully be a boost for the Scot and help them play Premier League football next season.

Team news

Liverpool for the first time this season would have had a relatively clean bill of health if it wasn’t for the injury picked up by captain Jordan Henderson against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday. Nathaniel Clyne is finally back in training, and Xherdan Shaqiri is still out.

The Irons will be missing Jack Wilshere, Andriy Yarmolenko and Ryan Fredericks for longer periods but barring that are pretty fit throughout the squad.

From the Dugout:

Jurgen Klopp:

“It’s Monday night, we need a really good atmosphere again and not kind of this perception that you go there and think, ‘OK, 1-0 after seven minutes, 2-0 after 25 and then it’s easy-going’. It will not be like this.

“West Ham needs to fight for results and they will fight for results. They have tough games coming up for them as well, so they don’t have time to waste results, points or whatever. I expect a really, really tough match, 100 per cent.”

David Moyes:

“We’re all looking for a way to beat Liverpool.

“That’s why we love the game and that’s why we take part in the game, because you always hope that you’re going to be the team who can win. We’ll try and do that, and let’s hope we can.

“It’d mean a lot for me [to beat Liverpool]. Anfield is never an easy place for any manager or team to go to, but we’ll go there and do everything we can to get a result.

“With any top team, all the managers of all the other teams are trying to find ways of beating them. That’s the way football is. Manchester City were the top dogs in the last few years. Liverpool have found ways of getting above them in the league. There’ll be other teams who are trying to overtake Liverpool in the coming weeks and years.”

Head-to-head

Liverpool WINS: 75

Draws: 37

West Ham WINS: 28

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