West Ham vs Liverpool – Premier League Match Preview

Dan Tracey November 4, 2017 Leave a comment 2,012 Views

West Ham may well have drawn at Crystal Palace last weekend but there is no doubting the fact that it will have felt like a defeat. After being 2-0 up thanks to goals from Andre Ayew and Javier Hernandez they conspired to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory after conceding a 97th minute equaliser.

The blame firmly has to lie at the hands of Michail Antonio who had to keep the ball in the corner and nothing more but also the three players who surged forward looking for a cross in the dying second will have to shoulder a small portion of the anger that stemmed from the result.

This evening they play host to Liverpool and Slaven Bilic could well be staring down the barrel of a gun should they not manage to pick up any points. The general consensus is that the former Croatia manager had two games to save his job and that win over Tottenham in the Carabao Cup would have bought him some time.

And while a win in cup competition is all very well you have to come to the conclusion that ultimately it is the Premier League in which it really matters, the fact that there were two points dropped quite simply down to their own doing has done his job prospects no favours.

It could quite simply be win or bust, then again if he does manage to mastermind a win over Liverpool later today does that just prolong his agony? I guess that is only really the case if they then do not kick on and move their way up the table.

Quite frankly Bilic will not be looking ahead he will just want to make sure that he has a job on the other side of the international break and not become the fourth managerial casualty of the season and if that is not to be the case then they will have to get the better of a Liverpool side who make the trip to London off the back of two 3-0 wins.

After the shambles that was a fortnight ago when they were soundly beaten by Tottenham at Wembley there is an air of normality at Anfield after back to back home wins, not only that though but more importantly successive clean sheets.

Admittedly they may have only faced Huddersfield and Maribor and it both games it took them a while to finally get through the gears but as the old adage says you can only beat what is infront of you and in fairness that is what they have done as they moved back into the top six of the Premier League and held on to spot in their Champions League group.

So with the momentum and the defence not having the existential crisis that is has suffered as of late the aim now will be to make it three wins out of three and keep themselves in the hunt for a top four spot, when you look at the fact that there will be dropped points from the teams above them tomorrow then this is a game there dare not lose.

If they do so it will be a case of one step forward and one step back, Liverpool look like they are making progress but then it stutters and the question that has to be asked is whether West Ham will be a wounded beast giving it there all tonight or will they be a dying animal ready to be put out of it’s misery.

If the players want to fight for Bilic they could get a result but if the ship has already sailed into the abyss and Bilic is in a dead man’s shoes then I can only see it being a win for Liverpool and unfortunately for Hammers fans I think it will be the latter that happens. An away win for me and we’ll have to wait and see if the P45 is prepared on Monday.

This is what social media thinks will happen – you can still vote on the outcome