Liverpool labour in important win over West Ham

Liverpool were far from their fluent best but Sadio Mane’s goal was enough to claim all three points against West Ham United at Anfield.

The Reds came into the game off the back of a Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea and ensured FA Cup progression with a win against Norwich City.

West Ham’s own progress has stalled of late and their cup run was ended at the hands of Southampton. David Moyes’ side have seen their hopes of a top-four place stall and they were missing captain Declan Rice at Anfield due to illness.

Liverpool were able to make changes once more after resting 10 players in the midweek win over the Canaries, however, they were without Joel Matip, Thiago Alcantara and Roberto Firmino for the clash against the Hammers.

Jurgen Klopp’s men started brightly and Mohamed Salah should have opened the scoring after quick thinking from Trent Alexander-Arnold, with the miss a sign of things to come for the Egyptian.

Very little came off for the league’s top goalscorer as the forward was reduced to taking shots from difficult angles instead of picking out a teammate and it came as no surprise when he made way for Diogo Jota.

Salah cut a frustrated figure leaving the field but it will most likely only leave the forward more determined to make amends on his next appearance.

The Egyptian was far from alone on having an off-day, however. Liverpool looked laboured on all counts and you would be forgiven for thinking that these particular players had played three times this week. It could perhaps be a sign of the increased pressure that comes from fighting on four fronts.

Some of the touches were sloppy, the passing was not up to the usual standards and had Manuel Lanzini not spurned a glorious opportunity at an equaliser, Klopp’s title prospects would look a whole lot different.

Luis Diaz was the antithesis to a lot of Liverpool’s lethargy with the Colombian once again impressing and unlucky not to add to his solitary goal thus far.

All of that being said, it is impossible to play well every time you take to the field, so taking three points against a difficult opponent when the level is not so high is a good sign. The pressure is back on Manchester City with the gap at the top once again cut to three points.

Inter Milan are the next visitors to Anfield in what will be the fourth consecutive game in a different competition.

With a two-goal advantage garnered from the first-leg, Klopp will be confident his side will have enough to reach the Champions League quarter-finals but knows that the performance will need to be improved upon.

Lautaro Martinez might not be as forgiving as his international compatriot Lanzini if presented with that kind of opportunity.

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