Premier League: Matip header keeps Liverpool in European hunt; Chelsea face another loss

A bullet header from Joel Matip gave Liverpool a 2-1 Premier League win over West Ham United that moved them above Tottenham Hotspur and again into the

A bullet header from Joel Matip gave Liverpool a 2-1 Premier League win over West Ham United that moved them above Tottenham Hotspur and again into the European locations after a frenetic end-to-end recreation on the London Stadium on Wednesday.

Liverpool’s supervisor Jurgen Klopp celebrates in direction of his groups followers after the top of the English Premier League soccer match between West Ham United and Liverpool on the London stadium in London, Wednesday, April 26, 2023. Liverpool gained the sport 2-1. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)(AP)

The Reds are in sixth spot within the desk on 53 factors, forward of Spurs due to their far superior objective distinction and one level behind Aston Villa with a recreation in hand as they search to salvage a disappointing season.

The guests needed to battle laborious for his or her victory, with West Ham taking the lead in gorgeous style within the twelfth minute when Lucas Paqueta reduce in from the left and performed a one-two with Michail Antonio earlier than firing house from the sting of the realm.

That lead lasted solely six minutes as Dutch striker Cody Gakpo acquired a go in a central place, taking a contact earlier than rapidly unleashing a bouncing shot that evaded the dive of Lukasz Fabianski earlier than nestling within the far nook.

It took a superb piece of defending by Virgil van Dijk to stop West Ham going forward once more simply earlier than the break as he received a toe to an excellent angled ball from Said Benrahma to stop Antonio from scoring on the far publish.

Liverpool dominated possession all through however the Hammers have been harmful on the break, and so they had a superb solo objective by Jarrod Bowen dominated out after a VAR assessment discovered him to be offside early within the second half.

After having a shot blocked a minute earlier, Matip received the winner within the 67th minute when he powered house a close-range header from Andy Robertson’s nook.

West Ham had a late shout for a penalty turned down when the ball struck the arm of substitute Thiago Alcantara as he went in for a deal with, however the referee waved away their appeals and VAR didn’t come to their assist as Liverpool held on for his or her third win in a row.

KLOPP HAPPY

Manager Juergen Klopp was happy with each the end result and the efficiency, however the German mentioned that qualifying for the Champions League was nonetheless past his aspect.

“No, it’s not in our hands, so why should I talk about that?” he informed BT Sport. “We can only get three points as often as somehow possible, that would put pressure on others but they are all in a better position.”

Hammers boss David Moyes was left annoyed by the choice to not award his staff a penalty for the handball, and he strode to the centre circle to confront referee Chris Kavanagh on the last whistle.

“When a player lunges in the box, it’s different from a slip, it’s different from trying to break your fall. When you lunge in the box, your arms out, it was a penalty kick,” he informed BT Sport.

The loss introduced an finish to a run that noticed West Ham take seven factors from three video games and dropped them one spot to 14th, 5 factors forward of Leicester City in 18th place.

Fifth straight defeat for Chelsea

Brentford condemned Chelsea to a fifth defeat in 5 video games in all competitions below interim coach Frank Lampard on Wednesday as an personal objective by Blues’ captain Cesar Azpilicueta and a strike by Bryan Mbeumo handed the Bees a 2-0 win within the Premier League.

The loss left toothless Chelsea eleventh within the Premier League desk, stumbling in direction of presumably their worst marketing campaign for the reason that 1993/94 season – once they completed 14th below Glenn Hoddle – regardless of their new U.S. house owners’ big outlay on gamers.

Brentford went forward when defender Mathias Jorgensen headed on a nook on the close to publish and the ball struck Azpilicueta and went in after 37 minutes, earlier than the guests had even had a shot of their very own on the right track.

Lampard – Chelsea’s third coach this season after Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter have been fired – introduced on winger Mykhailo Mudryk and striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at halftime as he sought to finish a objective drought that has now seen the London aspect rating solely as soon as in seven video games in all competitions.

Source: www.hindustantimes.com

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