West Ham 1-2 Liverpool: Make Us Dream

Well, we got through it. This game against West Ham certainly wasn't good for fans' nerves, but in the end Liverpool pulled through to extend their win streak to an immensely impressive 9 games. The headlines will be dominated by Anthony Taylor, who made two extremely poor decisions that hugely changed the shape of the match. In the end though, all that matters to Liverpool is the three points, who with the win keep the title race in their own hands.

Right from kick-off it was clear that Liverpool weren't going to have it easy. West Ham started off strongly, defending solidly as well as mounting a few promising attacks of their own. The reds still had the lion's share of the chances however, with Sturridge blazing wildly over a couple of times and Suarez chipping an effort onto the bar. The first half was a frustrating, nerve-wracking affair, and the relief was tangible when we finally broke the deadlock through a Gerrard penalty. The captain is a true talisman for our club: his passion and drive (excuse the cliches) is infectious, and you can see his belief rubbing off on the entire squad. If we are going to pull off a sensational Premier League title win then he will be central to it.

Soon after this came Anthony Taylor's first awful decision. Right on the stroke of half time, West Ham won a corner. Mignolet came to claim the ball, but dropped it after being struck in the face by Andy Carroll. Guy Demel subsequently turned it in, but Liverpool were rightly convinced that the goal shouldn't stand. It seemed that the assistant referee shared their conviction- initially, he flagged for a foul on the keeper. Astonishingly though, Taylor, following a conversation with his assistant, over-ruled the decision! Had we gone on to lose points from this game, it would have been a cruel way to lose control of the title race.

Fortunately for us, the referee was to 'make amends' later on in the game. With 20 minutes to go the feeling of nervousness that defined the first half was back, and stronger than ever. It was at this point that we won our second penalty. There was no doubt about the first- Suarez won it by totally out-doing Tomkins, who then handled the ball in an almost identical fashion to Rafael in our game against United. The second was less stonewall: Flanagan burst into the box in hot pursuit of the ball, but Adrian appeared to get there just before him. Replays showed that he did indeed get the first touch on the ball, but he did then grab hold of Flanagan's foot. Either way, the penalty was given, and Gerrard set Liverpool back on the path to ultimate glory with an emphatic finish.

Try as our opponents might, they just can't seem to kill off the feeling of optimism and excitement that has descended upon the club. With only 5 games to go, and safe in the knowledge that victories in all of them will secure us the title that would mean so much, it is a truly amazing time to be a fan of Liverpool FC. Now we have to look to the game that could ultimately decide the destination of the Premier League trophy- Liverpool vs City.
-James Martin
Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

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West Ham 2-3 Liverpool

Today (Sunday 9th December), Liverpool won 3-2 in a dramatic away win against West Ham United. All three of Liverpool’s goals were scored by ex-West Ham players, Johnson, Cole and Shelvey. West Ham’s goals came from an own goal from Gerrard and a penalty, scored by Noble.

In the first 10 minutes, I have to admit I was worried. West Ham were attacking well, and Liverpool were just sitting back and absorbing the pressure, not looking too comfortable. However, Liverpool looked fairly threatening on the counter, and so it proved on the 10 minute mark. Glen Johnson absolutely tormented the West Ham defence, darting through two or three players before smashing it into the top corner brilliantly from outside the box. It was a superb goal, and for me Johnson was our best player throughout the match. After this we played excellently, and we were unlucky not to add another one, with both Shelvey and Sterling coming close.

However, in the 35th minute, the match was turned on its head. The referee, Lee Probert, awarded West Ham a penalty for a dubious Joe Allen handball. The ball was smashed at him from a yard away, and he couldn’t really have got out of the way, although his hands were raised. Mark Noble slotted it away comfortably. This spurred the Hammers on, and they got back into the game. Things got worse for Liverpool just before the break, when a ball whipped in by Jarvis was headed in by Steven Gerrard. The own goal was almost comical, as the header was so well paced, and would have been a quality goal had it been at the other end of the pitch!

Fortunately, Liverpool came out strongly in the second half, but for about half an hour the sides were at a stalemate, with nobody coming up with many particularly meaningful attacks. However, on 75 minutes, Liverpool finally drew level. An exquisite ball from Sterling put Joe Cole through on goal, who finished beautifully into the bottom corner. This served as a platform to spur Liverpool on to the win, and from this point on they were by far the most positive side. They were rewarded for this positivity when substitute Jordan Henderson whipped in a wonderful ball, aimed at Shelvey. James Collins just beat him to it, and somehow ended up inadvertently lobbing his own keeper; the second time this has happened to poor Jaaskelinen recently. Admittedly this was a rather fortuitous way to regain the lead, but on balance I think we deserved the goal.

West Ham gave Liverpool a few scares in the dying moments of the game, but they held on for the victory, gaining us a much needed 3 points. With that we finally move back up into the top half of the table, and are in fact currently only 4 points away from a Champions League spot. Overall I think we gave a great performance, and really showed that we can cope without Suarez. Jordan Henderson impressed me when he came on, and Sterling looked good in the second half, but as I said earlier my Man of the Match has to go to Johnson.