West Ham 1-2 Liverpool: Talking points as Liverpool leave London Stadium victorious

Liverpool took all three points as they traveled to London Stadium on Wednesday, where they took on West Ham in a rather exciting Premier League clash. The home side took the lead through Lucas Paqueta in the 12th minute, and Cody Gakpo equalized in the 18th. In the end, it was Joël Matip who settled the match in the 67th minute.

Both teams need as many points as they can get by the end of the season, but Liverpool's need is arguably greater at this stage as they battle to qualify at least for the Europa League, if they should miss the top four.

It was just normal for the Reds to take charge of the proceedings and own what they did, finishing the fight with the ball at their feet 72% of the time and a total of 11 shots, including four on target, while West Ham took six, two on target. Liverpool also blocked seven shots; That of West Ham. Liverpool attempted 872 passes with 87% of them finding the intended target, West Ham attempted 344, with an accuracy of 67%.

Nevertheless, the Hammers were well organized at the back and very dangerous in transition, which Paqueta showed perfectly in the 11th minute as he exploded down the left, combined beautifully with Antonio twice before breaking into let a fly about 20 meters. The shot deflected Virgil van Dijk slightly and hit the back of the net.

After threatening several times in the same way, the Hammers again put the ball in the opposing net. It was Jarrod Bowen, once a target for Liverpool in the transfer market, who broke the right side and took advantage of Liverpool's back line believing he was offside to enter the box, get the better of Van Dijk in a split second before finding the lowest corner. But unfortunately for the 26-year-old and his team-mates, the Liverpool defenders were correct in their calculation and VAR ruled the goal out for offside.

Bowen threatened again in the same way afterwards, but on this occasion his shot was too docile to give Alisson Becker problems.

West Ham were equally dangerous on the other flank, where Said Benrahma frequently showed his skill on the ball and gave Alexander-Arnold, Matip and Henderson a lot of trouble with his quick feet. In the 41st minute, Benrahma benefited from excellent work by Paqueta and Bowen to break into the box, and although he had Henderson and Matip in front, he put in a low pass between them for Antonio to hit the post. , but Van Dijk was there with his usual sublime composure to push him into the striker's path.

But it has to be said that Liverpool looked more dangerous and created at least as dangerous chances on the other side. Diogo Jota, who has scored four goals in his last two games, wasted two great chances. Salah, although he didn't score, looked like he could do so at any time, and Gakpo showed real progress in the 'false nine' role, proving he was probably the right choice in the transfer market January to enter as a long-term successor to Roberto Firmino.

The Dutch international frequently dropped deeper to pick up the ball between the opposing lines and spin, before clearing a team-mate with a clever back pass. And yet he took the only moment the West Ham defense expected him to do that to shoot from around 25 yards, and it was a perfect bouncing shot that ended up beating Lukasz Fabianski in goal of West Ham in the 18th minute.

Curtis Jones, who worked tirelessly in midfield from the first whistle in the 84th minute when he made way for veteran James Milner, also had some promising moments in the opposition box, but he didn't wasn't quite decisive enough to put his name on the scoresheet.

Overall, this Liverpool performance was much closer to what their supporters have been accustomed to seeing in recent years, compared to many previous ones this season. The Merseysiders were confident on the ball, and although West Ham often had nine players behind the ball, they managed to get through and create some dangerous moments.

VAR were called into action three times in this game. First for the goal disallowed by Bowen, then there was a moment when a potential Liverpool penalty was considered when the ball appeared to hit Aaron Creswell's arm.

But the only moment that caused any real controversy happened in the Liverpool penalty area, when substitute Thiago Alcantara put his hand on the ground to support his weight, and he definitely touched the ball. Nothing was given in the end, and it sent Moyes into an angry outburst. The West Ham manager even approached referee Chris Kavanagh after the final whistle to demand an explanation.

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However, it showed...