Hammers beat Reds 2-0 at Upton Park
West Ham United picked up the first three points of the Premier League in 2016 thanks to goals from Michail Antonio and Andy Carroll.
The Hammers went into the game having the better of Liverpool after their impressive 3-0 win at Anfield earlier in the season, but with Jurgen Klopp now at the helm, the Reds fancied their chances at revenge.
However, it was the same old story for Liverpool as they fell to a defeat with a former-player adding insult to injury.
Both sides were coming off wins late last year, with West Ham beating Southampton and Liverpool seeing off Sunderland, but it was Slaven Bilic‘s men who picked up all three points.
Summary
Despite the result, it was the visitors who had the first goal-scoring opportunity at Upton Park as Jordan Ibe came close to giving the Reds an early lead.
His long-range shot just drifted past the far post, which could have changed the game completely.
However, he missed his chance, and seven minutes later, West Ham made them pay as Antonio headered the hosts in front after a delightful cross from Enner Valencia.
Bilic‘s side nearly doubled their lead moments after as Manuel Lanzini fired an unstoppable, swirling shot goal-wards, only to see it crash back off the woodwork with Simon Mignolet rooted to the spot.
Chances in the first-half after that were few and far between as West Ham went into the interval with a one-goal cushion.
However, 10-minutes into the second-half and they doubled their advantage when Carroll thumped home past Mignolet with a stunning header.
This time around it was an immaculate cross from Mark Noble, as he found Carroll, who leapt over Nathaniel Clyne to head home.
The former-Liverpool man nearly made it 3-0 moments after with another header, but Mignolet got down well to deny the Englishman.
Liverpool nearly got back into the game when a Lucas Leiva header was cleared off the line by Noble, but apart from that, Klopp‘s side failed to create many goal-scoring opportunities.
The visitors then had two penalty appeals turned-down with the match-referee deciding neither appeals were deliberate hand-balls, much to the annoyance of the travelling faithful.
It was then West Ham’s turn to have opportunities as both Noble and Cheikhou Kouyaté were denied by Mignolet, before Joe Allen should have got Liverpool back in the game with an unmarked header.
Victory puts West Ham fifth in the Premier League after 20-games, whilst Liverpool sit three places below them in eighth.
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
