Matters are looking better and better for Liverpool as the Premier League leaders face a Sunday evening trip to West Ham.
Arne Slot’s side are flying high at the top of the table, looking full of confidence and flow even amid some contract wrangling off the pitch. An early dent at Leicester proved little impediment as Liverpool again showed off their attacking prowess in a 3-1 victory that, with Chelsea dropping points, extended their advantage at the top with a game still in hand after the Merseyside derby’s postponement earlier this month. The futures of Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk may be in some degree of doubt but there is certainty over their club’s place as red-hot title favourites.
Hoping to throw their charging visitors off course will be a West Ham side beginning, perhaps, to gel under Julen Lopetegui. The sack appeared to loom for the Spanish manager ahead of the meeting with Wolves early in December but it is now four games unbeaten after the narrow win at Southampton on Boxing Day. Can they lift their level and provide Liverpool with a stiff challenge?
Follow all of the latest from the London Stadium in our live blog below:
West Ham host Liverpool in the Premier League | Live on Sky Sports
Arne Slot’s visitors sit top of the table and have a game in hand on their title rivals
Hosts have lifted the gloom with an unbeaten four-match run but face a tough task
West Ham XI: Areola; Coufal, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson; Alvarez, Soler, Paqueta; Kudus, Bowen
Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; MacAllister, Gravenberch, Jones; Gakpo, Diaz, Salah
West Ham make four changes as Luis Diaz replaces Darwin Nunez for Liverpool
West Ham United FC 0 – 0 Liverpool FC
17:24 , Jamie Braidwood
8 mins: MISS! How are Liverpool not ahead! It’s a mess from West Ham playing out from the back. Liverpool pinch it and Salah looks for Gakpo at the back post, but the forward misses the cross!
17:22 , Jamie Braidwood
7 mins: SAVE! Right down the other end, Salah is denied by Areola! Stunning move from Liverpool as Gakpo finds a brilliant pass into the box. Salah has the target in sight by Areola saves high to his left, as Salah looked for the near post.
17:21 , Jamie Braidwood
6 mins: CHANCE! An opening for West Ham as Robertson is caught by Kudus. It’s played wide to Bowen who crosses back to Paqueta, but the Brazilian slips at the vital moment and slices wide.
17:20 , Jamie Braidwood
4 mins: A first chance for Salah on the left edge of the box, but Wan-Bissaka shuts down the danger. Alexander-Arnold swings in a cross but West Ham can clear.
17:16 , Jamie Braidwood
1 min: Wan-Bissaka is playing at left back today, with Emerson pushed into left wing.
West Ham deploying two full-backs in an attempt to stop leading scorer Mohamed Salah?
17:15 , Jamie Braidwood
Underway in London as the bubbles clear from the pitch.
17:13 , Jamie Braidwood
Here we go! The players are out at the London Stadium as Liverpool aim to go eight points clear at the top of the table. West Ham beat the league’s bottom side Southampton 1-0 on Boxing Day. They now face the leaders, who have not lost away from home this season under Arne Slot.
17:10 , Jamie Braidwood
It was this fixture last season where Mohamed Salah and Jurgen Klopp had their touchline bust-up, as Liverpool’s title challenge faltered.
Salah could instead become the first player to score multiple goals in four consecutive Premier League away appearances.
He scored twice at Tottenham, twice at Newcastle and twice at Southampton – and is the third player to do so in three in a row, after Dennis Bergkamp in 1997 and Harry Kane in 2017.
17:07 , Jamie Braidwood
Nottingham Forest are up to second in the Premier League after a 2-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park. Nuno’s side go ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal, and are currently Liverpool’s closest challengers five points off the summit.
Crystal Palace 2-1 Southampton
Everton 0-2 Nottingham Forest
Fulham 2-2 Bournemouth
Leicester 0-2 Manchester City
Tottenham 2-2 Wolves
17:00 , Jamie Braidwood
West Ham’s 3-2 home win against Liverpool in November 2021 is their only triumph in the past 16 top-flight meetings.
Liverpool have scored at least twice in seven of their last eight league matches at the London Stadium, including each of the last five.
16:45 , Jamie Braidwood
Julen Lopetegui was happy to see West Ham extend their unbeaten run to four matches at Southampton, but will immediately turn his attention to solving “problems” against Liverpool.
It was only three weeks ago Lopetegui was under pressure, but he has different issues to fix and he talked up the mentality of his squad after a number of selection issues at Southampton.
“Always we are happy when we achieve one victory,” Lopetegui said. “Now we have to manage and to handle these problems for the next big challenge against Liverpool.
“The thing I highlight is the strong mentality. If we were not with a strong mentality, a competitive mentality in this kind of match, we lose the match, I am sure.
“So, that is why to highlight the mentality of the team. We start very well and didn’t score in two very clear actions. After they have chances too and we have a lot of problems.
“The players on the bench show they were ready, which is good news because you know how you are going to start one match but you don’t know what is going to happen, so you have to be ready to be competitive.”
16:30 , Jamie Braidwood
Liverpool have yet to lose on the road this season but manager Arne Slot attributed that record to the calibre of teams they have faced so far.
Liverpool, who are seven points clear at the top with a game in hand, have won six and drawn two of their eight away games.
“Our away form has been good but maybe it has a bit to do with the teams we faced in the first half of the season,” Slot said.
“Mainly we faced the teams at the top half of the table at home and the other ones we faced away, so that might have something to do with it.
“We are a strong team away from home and at home as well. I don’t see any reason why we are stronger there and then here.
“But we can best judge at the end of the season once we have played every team home and away to see what fits us best.”
16:15 , Richard Jolly
Alisson believes Liverpool’s league leaders cannot be compared with Jurgen Klopp’s greatest team but said Arne Slot’s side have to create their own history.
The goalkeeper is one of the survivors of the group who won the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020 under Klopp, along with Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez and Mohamed Salah.
But he feels the current side, who have a six-point lead in the table, are so different that comparisons are irrelevant. Klopp christened the side he had in his final season “Liverpool 2.0” and Alisson believes that both the personnel and style have changed, with new head coach Slot adding his stamp.
Alisson explains why Arne Slot’s Liverpool are different to Jurgen Klopp’s champions
16:06 , Jamie Braidwood
Just the one change for Liverpool from the 3-1 win over Boxing Day as Luis Diaz replaces Darwin Nunez.
West Ham make four changes and look like they are setting up with a back-five as Vladimir Coufal starts in a defence that includes Max Kilman.
Carlos Soler is also fit to start and joins Lucas Pacqueta and Edson Alvarez in midfield, leaving Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus as the front two. Alphonse Areola replaces the injured Lukasz Fabianski in goal.
16:00 , Jamie Braidwood
West Ham XI: Areola; Coufal, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson; Alvarez, Soler, Paqueta; Kudus, Bowen
Subs: Foderingham, Cresswell, Summerville, Fullkrug, Guilherme, Ings, Todibo, Irving, Scarles
Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; MacAllister, Gravenberch, Jones; Gakpo, Diaz, Salah
Subs: Kelleher, Endo, Nunez, Elliott, Jota, Tsimikas, McConnell, Danns, Quansah
15:55 , Jamie Braidwood
We’re expecting line-ups from the London Stadium in the next few minutes…
15:40 , Jamie Braidwood
Arne Slot continued to play down the significance of Liverpool’s place at the top of the Premier League despite it being strengthened by their 3-1 win over Leicester on Boxing Day.
“If you are in this game for a long time like the players and I am then 20 games before the end you don’t look at it as there are so many challenges ahead of you,” he said.
“Injuries and a bit of bad luck can happen to any team, it is far too early to be already celebrating – but it is nice for us to be where we are.
“I don’t think there was any easy win for us in any of these games; it could have been an easy win against Tottenham but we conceded two and it was then 5-2 – that tells you how difficult it is to win even when you have all your players available.
“That is why we have to take it one game at a time. The league table is something of course we are aware of but we always understand how many games there are to go.”
15:25 , Richard Jolly
Liverpool are unbeaten in 22 games. They have won 22 of 26 under Arne Slot.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has been terrific, looking to his manager to improve his defending while retaining his capacity to produce remarkable passes.
Mohamed Salah has seemed to reverse the ageing process. His Boxing Day strike against Leicester took him to 250 goal involvements in the Premier League for Liverpool – scored 171, assisted 79 – and, more topically, took him to the brink of his total for the whole of last season.
Then there is Virgil van Dijk, a year Salah’s senior at 33 but also looking timeless. The captain remains as imperious as ever. Friday marked the seventh anniversary of the announcement of his arrival from Southampton for £75m, next Sunday’s meeting with United falling seven years to the day since his goalscoring debut in a Merseyside derby.
15:10 , Richard Jolly
New year, new context. Liverpool will enter 2025 top of the Premier League, a year of seismic change that could have sent them spiralling downwards instead sees them ending on a high. But if 2024 brought the departure of Jurgen Klopp, 2025 could see a trio of significant exits. From 1 January, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah will be able to discuss a summer move to a foreign club on a free transfer.
The date may not be ideal, given the first week of January contains a meeting with Manchester United. Yet Arne Slot has excelled in what could have been an awkward situation, smiling as he has declined to offer updates.
Liverpool’s unseen strength can help navigate contract distraction to title
15:03 , Jamie Braidwood
Dominik Szoboszlai is suspended while Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley miss out once again. Otherwise, Arne Slot has a full squad of players to choose from.
15:02 , Jamie Braidwood
Lukasz Fabianski, Carlos Soler and Max Kilman look set to miss out on Sunday after picking up injuries against Southampton on Boxing Day, while Tomas Soucek and Guido Rodriguez are suspended.
15:01 , Jamie Braidwood
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15:00 , Jamie Braidwood
West Ham host Premier League leaders Liverpool at the London Stadium this evening.
A much-needed win for the Hammers at Southampton on Boxing Day, courtesy of Jarrod Bowen’s goal, moved Julen Lopetegui’s side up to 13th in the table.
Liverpool, meanwhile, extended their lead at the top of the table after coming from behind to beat Leicester at Anfield.
Mohamed Salah scored his 16th league goal of the season in the win against Leicester, yet this is his last game before he can start talking to foreign clubs about leaving Anfield.
