West Ham United vs Liverpool
12:30, Saturday 27th April
London Stadium, London
Premier League
Referee: Anthony Taylor
West Ham United host Liverpool this Saturday afternoon, as the Premier League season heads into its final weeks. These final weeks appear to promise less for clubs who just a few weeks ago harboured hopes of Europa qualification and of further silverware & titles. The Hammers have won just one of their previous seven league matches (also dropping out of the Europa League to Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen at the quarter-final stage) – they head a tight midfield pack, but prospects of Europa Conference qualification appear to be fading quickly. The Reds have dropped out of the FA Cup and Europa League in the last month or so, and have let eight points in their last four matches slip – they’ve lost ‘control’ of the Premier League, and will almost-certainly require a perfect finish alongside significant slip-ups from Arsenal & Manchester City if this season is yet to conclude as dramatically as many hoped. Also providing a sense of finality around this fixture is the departure from their respective clubs of both David Moyes and Jurgen Klopp, 7th & 2nd longest-serving managers in the English Football League, respectively. For West Ham fans, Moyes’ departure is a welcome step into a new chapter despite some real highs during recent seasons whilst, for Liverpool supports, Klopp’s departure really does represent an awkward & tentative step into an unknown future: both can leave their clubs with a sense of pride.
The sides last met at the London Stadium a year ago to today, with both sides having endured difficult seasons up to that point. The hosts had dropped into the relegation zone on a couple of occasions since a very poor start to the campaign, but took ten points from five matches prior to Liverpool’s – they sat 13th, with a six-point margin to the drop-zone and a game in hand. Jurgen Klopp’s side had struggled to sustain decent runs of form all season and went into the fixture having taken just two wins in their previous six – they sat nine points adrift of the top four, in 7th position. Lucas Paquetá opened the scoring with an excellent strike early on for David Moyes’ side, but Cody Gakpo levelled matters from distance within minutes and the sides were tied at half-time. Following a disallowed Jared Bowen goal in the second half, Joel Matip powered home a header from a corner midway through the second half to claim the points (despite a West Ham penalty claim later in the match). Moyes’ side lost four and won two of their remaining fixtures, ultimately finishing six points clear of relegation in 14th whilst also winning the Europa Conference League. Visiting Liverpool remained unbeaten until the end of the campaign, but fell short of Champions League qualification by four points.
The latest chapter of West Ham United’s history can reasonably considered to begin in the summer or 2018. West Ham had been back in the Premier League (following a single-season absence) for six seasons at that stage, achieving consistent mid-table finishes between 7th & 13th under Sam Allardyce, Slaven Bilic, and David Moyes but there was a sense of wanting to push on beyond this. Former Villarreal, Real Madrid, and Manchester City manager, Manuel Pellegrini was appointed as the man to steer the Hammers towards consistent top-half finishes and the lure of European football. Pellegrini’s first season went pretty well, with West Ham finishing 10th, but – after a decent start – they fell away badly during the second campaign and the Chilean was dismissed at the halfway stage with West Ham just a point outside of the relegation zone in 17th. The Hammers turned to David Moyes to avert their slide to the drop – something that had worked out for them two years previous, though they opted not to extend Moyes’ tenure at that stage.
A decent late-season run saw West Ham avoid relegation by five points at the end of that 2019-20, and the club were inclined to show Moyes some loyalty by that stage. The aim of kicking-on from 2018 seemed to have fallen flat by that stage, but the period that has followed has comfortably represented West Ham’s best period since at least the days of Harry Redknapp’s talented young squad at the turn of the century and is up their with their best spells ever. Moyes’s side finished 6th in 2021, qualifying for a Europa League that the reached a semi-final of (losing 3-1 on aggregate to eventual-winners Eintracht Frankfurt) whilst also finishing 7th in 2022. A poor league campaign through 2022-23 saw West Ham finish in lowly 14th (six points clear of the drop), but they’d qualified for the Europa Conference in 2022 and would go on to win the competition, beating Fiorentina 2-1 in the final to add another European trophy alongside their 1964-65 European Cup Winners’ Cup.
West Ham have been decent this seasons, comfortably surpassing last season’s points tally with four games still to play and still with an outside chance (Manchester United have a five point advantage and a game in hand) of qualifying for the Europa Conference. Despite the highs of their European adventures, however, there’s perhaps a sense of frustration at a lack of sustained form in the league (beyond a strong November & December of 2023) that could see them considered as regular competitors for the Europa League and Conference positions rather than being outsiders for the positions. As such, David Moyes is almost certain to depart when his contract expires in the summer and a new chapter begins with familiar aims. At the time of writing, Julien Lopetegui appears front-runner for the role, with Graham Potter, Michael Carrick, Paulo Fonseca, and Hansi Flick’s names also linked.
Both clubs are in need of an end of season pick-me-up after a disappointing period since the international break, and particularly with the additional contexts surrounding their departing managers. West Ham will be up for the fight, having observed Liverpool’s recent form at both ends of the pitch – European qualification remains unlikely but possible, but points that are difficult to bank on against Liverpool and Chelsea will be key to keeping those hopes alive. Liverpool supports and Jurgen Klopp alike were optimistic about the return from injury of a number of senior members of the squad recently, but the timing has coincided with a run of poor form at both ends of the pitch – the defensive appears disjointed & leaky, whilst the forwards are misfiring. Liverpool will almost certainly need a perfect end to their season if any surprises remain in store, but recent form has meant that they also need to rely on favours in matches featuring Arsenal and Manchester City – doing their job and maintaining the pressure in advance of the others’ fixtures this weekend is really the only way to go about it.
