Liverpool will be looking to extend their winning streak when they visit West Ham United at Upton Park on Saturday in the first Premier League match of 2016. The two teams are separated by just one point in the league table, with Liverpool in seventh place and West Ham in eighth. The Hammers recorded a memorable 3-0 victory in the reverse fixture at Anfield in August, their first away win against Liverpool in 52 years. Last season the Hammers beat the Reds 3-1 at home.
West Ham had a good first half of the season overall, they are just six points away from the last Champions League spot after a 2-1 win at Southampton in the last match of 2015. That was their first league win since October though, they had gone eight matches without a win and scored just four goals in the process. They are unbeaten in six games though, with the win over the Saints coming after five consecutive draws. The Hammers could see the return of various first-team players, including Dimitri Payet, Enner Valencia and Victor Moses. Diafra Sakho remains sidelined.
Liverpool recorded back-to-back wins to end 2015 on a positive note as they defeated Sunderland 1-0 on Wednesday. Before that they defeated league leaders Leicester City as they were the first team to stop the Foxes from scoring this season. The Reds had mixed results away from home since new manager Jurgen Klopp took over, they won at Chelsea, Man City and Southampton, but lost at Newcastle and Watford. Danie Sturridge should be fit for this match and could play if Klopp decides to rest Christian Benteke. Divock Origi is out with a hamstring strain, while Martin Skrtel, James Milner, Joe Gomez and Danny Ings are also on the injured list.
Probable line-ups:
West Ham: Adrian - Jenkinson, Tomkins, Ogbonna, Cresswell - Song, Kouyate, Antonio, Payet, Lanzini - Carroll
Liverpool: Mignolet - Clyne, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno - Can, Lucas - Lallana, Coutinho, Firmino - Benteke
My prediction: 2-2 draw.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
West Ham win - 4.00 Draw - 3.50 Liverpool win - 2.05
Shumar4life
8 years ago
One more upset for Liverpool fans, and it is obvious that they need to make a change, in not in this transfer window than in next certainly. They need to bring goalkeeper, and completely new defense, because they are looking so poor in defense. Skrtel Sakho and Lovren are not top class players, and I think that Klopp know...
One more upset for Liverpool fans, and it is obvious that they need to make a change, in not in this transfer window than in next certainly. They need to bring goalkeeper, and completely new defense, because they are looking so poor in defense. Skrtel Sakho and Lovren are not top class players, and I think that Klopp know that
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sharpe
8 years ago
Great comeback for West Ham against Southampton in their last game but I don't think it was much deserved to be honest, Liverpool still playing tough on the road I think so I'm very uncertain about how it's going to finish this game. In the end I think the draw is much possible here, Johnny's prediction is 2-2 so I will...
Great comeback for West Ham against Southampton in their last game but I don't think it was much deserved to be honest, Liverpool still playing tough on the road I think so I'm very uncertain about how it's going to finish this game. In the end I think the draw is much possible here, Johnny's prediction is 2-2 so I will say 1-1: )
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