West Ham safety nailed on if they can repeat Liverpool display during run-in

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Giuseppe Muro25 February 2020

When West Ham perform like this, it makes you wonder how they got into such a mess.

The Hammers gave the champions-elect a real run for their money and, when the disappointment subsides, David Moyes will be encouraged by a display that shows they can dig themselves out of the hole they are in.

Before Lukasz Fabianski allowed Mo Salah’s tame shot to trickle through his legs as the hosts pulled level at 2-2, West Ham were on course to become the first team to beat Liverpool this season in their march towards the title.

The runaway leaders once again found a way to win and made history by recording a Premier League record of 21 consecutive home wins and record-equalling 18 successive top-flight victories. Defeat means West Ham remain in the bottom three, but the resilience they showed against the best team in the country offered promise that they can avoid relegation.

Most thought West Ham would look to just escape without a damaging defeat for their goal difference, like they had done at Manchester City last week.

Moyes was too negative at the Etihad, but he could not be accused of that here. West Ham had a real go at Anfield, with a performance full of fight, something that has been missing too often this season. It was not just guts and effort, they played some good stuff, moved the ball well, troubled the Liverpool backline all night and defended well.

Even after the shocking error from the normally reliable Fabianski offered Liverpool a way back into the match and Sadio Made put the home side ahead, West Ham responded and substitute Jarrod Bowen was denied an equaliser by Alisson when he was clear on goal.

The West Ham fans who made the trip to Merseyside applauded the players off at the end. They had seen their team give everything.

The challenge for Moyes now is to repeat this sort of display on a more regular basis for the run-in. The Scot has won just once in eight Premier League matches since he returned to the London Stadium at the end of December.

Despite that run, West Ham are just one point from 17th-placed Aston Villa and results went for them at the weekend when Norwich, Watford, Villa and Bournemouth all lost. They entertain Southampton on Saturday in what looks like a crunch match.

Hammers captain Mark Noble said: “I have come to Anfield many times in the past and it is not enjoyable at all. You normally sit there in the changing room afterwards and you are beaten and you know you are beaten by a much better team. But this time we were in the changing room after and gutted we did not come away with more.

“Liverpool are the best team in the country by a mile, but we gave them a good game, we played well, had a lot of chances and scored two good goals. What was different to the City game? We just had a go. We just thought we had nothing to lose. No one expected us to come here and win or get a point. We had a right go.

“At City, we did not even take part in the game really. But here, if anyone watched us, we are not a team who are going to roll over. It is just a shame that this season, more than any season I have been involved in, individual errors have really cost us.

“But going into a relegation battle, you have to take the positives out of that and you cannot dwell on it. The spirit that we played in, the way we played, with pace, and the way we attacked, the way we moved the ball, we can be proud of the performance.”

One player who can be especially proud is 19-year-old Jeremy Ngakia (below).

Action Images via Reuters

The right-back produced an assured display up against Sadio Mane and Andy Roberston on what was only his second Premier League start. With Ryan Fredericks likely to be out for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury and veteran Pablo Zabaleta on old legs at 35, Deptford-born Ngakia could have an important role to play in the fight to stay up.

There is some concern over Tomas Soucek, after the January loan signing from Slavia Prague limped off with an adductor injury at the start of the second half. The midfielder will be assessed but looks certain to miss the Southampton game.

Before the match, West Ham fans let off black balloons in the away end as part of a protest against co-owners David Sullivan, David Gold and vice-chair Karren Brady.

But, like Moyes, they will have left Anfield encouraged by what they had seen on the pitch.

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