Liverpool suffered until the end to beat West Ham, but decided this Saturday thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah (from a penalty) and Diogo Jota, with which the 'reds' equaled their own record of 63 unbeaten league games at Anfield and they are leaders, with 3 points more than an Everton that visits Newcastle this Sunday. On Sunday October 8, the Premier League champion visits Manchester City under Pep Guardiola, who beat Sheffield United 0-1 this Saturday.
With this hard-fought victory, Liverpool equaled the record of the 'red' team led by Sir Bob Paisle, which reached this number of matches without losing at home, 63, between February 1978 and December 1980.
Everything indicated that Rhys Williams would relieve the injured Fabinho (Virgil van Dijk's replacement) as Joe Gomez's companion, but Klopp opted for Nathaniel Phillips against the hammers. Klopp preferred not to risk an injury to the 19-year-old defender thinking about Tuesday's game against Atalanta in the Champions League. Curtis Jones, starter in the middle. Phillips put on a good performance.
West Ham made Liverpool uncomfortable in the first half, with a key Declan Rice in the midfield to make it difficult for the 'reds' to attack. Not only that. The 'hammers' advanced on the scoreboard thanks to a goal from Castellón-native Pablo Fornals, after a poor clearance by Joe Gomez. The ball reached the former Villarreal inside, who beat Alisson with a shot that hit the post. It was minute 10.
Thiago could not reappear and, to relieve Fabinho, Klopp bet on Phillips
The ‘hammers’ had the match in their favor, coming out on the backlash and preventing the Premier League champion from playing the style of football he likes the most, preventing him from going out for a run. In the ranks of Klopp, Thiago Alcántara could not yet reappear, nor could Naby Keita or Joel Matip.
But little by little, the 'reds', insisting and insisting, went further. In the 25 ', Sadio Mané fell, the referee did not signal a penalty, followed the play and Jordan Henderson shot wide in Liverpool's clearest occasion so far. Precisely the maximum penalty came the goal thanks to which Liverpool leveled. Arthur Masuaku committed the penalty on the Egyptian winger himself.
Alisson prevented Sébastien Haller, the protagonist of a good deed, from scoring what would have been West Ham's second goal. A jammed ‘net’ team could not create danger in some sections in search of achieving the second goal.
Robertson, providential, avoided the second of the “hammers”, which Fornals could score. And Klopp was totally right with the changes. In 84 ', Shaqiri's masterful pass was taken advantage of by Diogo Jota (who had previously been annulled for a lack of Sadio Mané) to give Liverpool the victory. A leadership and record victory.