My old club Liverpool are slowly but surely recapturing their form after back-to-back Premier League wins but they face a stern test at Upton Park this weekend. Wins over Bolton and Burnley aren’t earth shattering results but if Liverpool had dropped points in either of those games, they’d have left the team with a hell of a lot of ground to make up on the league leaders. After all, you can’t win the league title in the first few weeks of the season, but you can lose it!
Defeats to both Tottenham and Aston Villa coinciding with the sale of fans favourite Xabi Alonso definitely rocked Rafa Benitez’s team. However two wins and seven goals later, things are looking far rosier. Next up is a trip to Upton Park which is never an easy fixture although Liverpool do have a very good record against the Hammers in recent seasons.
West Ham have won just one of their last 14 league encounters with Liverpool and lost ten. The Hammers single success came in January 2008 as a Mark Noble penalty in added time sealed a win. However, last season Liverpool avenged that defeat with a convincing 3-0 victory in East London. In fact, West Ham have not actually scored against the Reds since Noble’s penalty in three league meetings.
Gianfranco Zola’s team has also failed to score in their last two league outings against Blackburn and Wigan which does not bode well for all 3 points against Liverpool. After all, Rafa’s side have scored 47 goals in their last 16 league games and no team in that run has been able to stop them netting. The Hammers will also have to watch old for their old boy Yossi Benayoun who will be full of confidence after a hat-trick against Burnley.
This season Liverpool’s start has been blighted by an inability to defend set-pieces with all 7 goals conceded having come from set-plays. West Ham are not the biggest side so I wouldn’t expect them to take full advantage of this apparent weakness.
Zola’s team have not been overly impressive at Upton Park after suffering 3 defeats in their last 4 at home whereas Liverpool have won 6 of the last 7 away. Therefore, I’m backing Liverpool in this weekend’s Premier 10 as they are starting to grow in confidence and belief
