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Liverpool vs West Ham news: Focused Reds can see off Hammers at Anfield

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (1st, L) celebrates with teammate Virgil van Dijk (2nd, L) after scoring the second goal during the English Premier League match between Chelsea and Liverpool in Lon

The Merseysiders should rack up another Anfield win when they resume their chase of leaders Manchester City on Saturday evening.

After a week to remember in the cup competitions, quadruple-chasing Liverpool now turn their attention to perhaps the hardest task ahead of them this season - catching Manchester City in the race for the Premier League title.

Jurgen Klopp's side go into the weekend six points behind City but can reduce the gap to three before Pep Guardiola's men contest Sunday's Manchester derby.

Liverpool made 10 changes for the fifth-round FA Cup tie against Norwich and still eased through so expect Klopp to roll out the refreshed big guns again here.

West Ham crashed out of the FA Cup at Southampton on the same night so David Moyes will be looking for a response.

When: Saturday, March 5, 17:30 GMT

Where: Anfield

How to watch: Sky Sports Main Event

Follow this game via our score centre

Who is the ref for Liverpool vs West Ham

Jon Moss gets the nod for the Anfield clash.

The Yorkshire-based official has taken charge of Liverpool twice this season.

Moss didn't show a single yellow card for the Reds' 5-0 win at Watford while he reached for his pocket just once in Liverpool's 3-0 home victory over Brentford.
As for West Ham, he's been the man in the middle for four of their games, showing just four yellows in total across those matches.

Season stats 2021/22: Premier League games (18), yellows (42), red (4), penalties (4)

Recent form

Liverpool have won their last six Premier League games, making them the top-flight's in-form team.
You need to go back to their 2-2 draw at Chelsea over two months ago to find the last time they dropped points.
Add in cup success and the Reds are enjoying their best run of the season having won 11 and drawn three of their 14 games since the turn of the year.

West Ham are still hanging in there as they seek to snatch fourth spot. They've picked up two wins and two draws in their last four Premier League outings.

Three of those four were home games and they've not looked as strong on the road.

Moyes also has to utilise his squad carefully with a two-legged Europa League clash with Sevilla coming up. West Ham play the opener away in Spain on Thursday.

Liverpool and West Ham players in form

Takumi Minamino was the hero against Norwich with both goals but his reward is likely to be a return to the bench.
Virgil van Dijk was man-of-the-match in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley and is back at the peak of his powers following last season's injury.
As a result, the Reds have conceded just once in the last six games the Dutchman has played in.

The frontline of Mo Salah (17), Diogo Jota (12) and Sadio Mane (11) occupy the top three spots in this year's Premier League Golden Boot race while Luis Diaz has added even further vibrancy to the attack.

Michail Antonio got back on the scoresheet - his first goal for the Hammers since New Year's Day - in the defeat at Southampton.
The only West Ham player to score more than once over the last four games is defender Craig Dawson, who continues to offer a threat from set-pieces.

Last three Premier League meetings

West Ham 3-2 Liverpool (November 7, 2021)

Liverpool have suffered just two Premier League defeats this season and the first came at West Ham.
Alisson's flap at a Pablo Fornals corner gifted the Hammers an early lead before Trent Alexander-Arnold smashed home a superb equaliser followng a free-kick move with Salah near half-time.
But far from being a turning point, West Ham surged 3-1 head through Fornals and Kurt Zouma and Divock Origi's reply was too little, too late as the Hammers moved above Liverpool and into fourth.

West Ham 1-3 Liverpool (January 31, 2021)

After three defeats in their previous five games, Liverpool were wobbling but a superb double from Salah delivered a blow to an in-form Hammers side that had won their previous six matches.
Liverpool dominated a goalless first half but then went 2-0 up via two superb Salah goals, his second after brilliantly controlling a high cross from Xerdan Shaqiri.
Gini Wijnaldum made it 3-0 after being set up by Roberto Firmino before West Ham netted a consolation goal through Dawson.

Liverpool 2-1 West Ham (October 31, 2020)

The Reds enjoyed 72% possession but found themselves 1-0 down with 42 minutes gone after Fornals had given West Ham a surprise lead.
The hosts levelled three minutes before the break when Arthur Masuaku fouled Salah and the Egyptian tucked home the resulting penalty.

With Nat Phillips making his league debut due to absence of Van Dijk, Liverpool managed to keep West Ham at arm's length and grabbed a winner five minutes from time when Jota fired home after a smart pass from Shaqiri.

Past ten meetings

Liverpool wins: 8

Draws: 1

West Ham wins: 1

Liverpool scored: 29

West Ham scored: 10

Managers' thoughts

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp on their pursuit of Man City: “You can be a spectacular second, which we were unfortunately (when they finished a point behind Manchester City in the 2018/19 title race) after a really good season and it helped us a lot for our future.

“So just learn to play as often as somehow possible your absolutely best football and that gives you a proper chance to win something. Unfortunately no guarantees.”

West Ham boss David Moyes on his side's workload: “We’re not pleased with the Premier League that we’ve had to play so many games and you can relay that to them please.

“We had a game on Sunday, a cup game on Wednesday and now we’re playing again on Saturday, so three games in six days would not be correct.”

Predicted Liverpool vs West Ham teams

After the complete overhaul for the Norwich FA Cup tie, Klopp will likely go strong although he'll have one eye on Tuesday night's home game against Inter despite the Reds holding a 2-0 lead from the first leg.

Expect recalls for Van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Joel Matip, Alexander-Arnold, Salah, Mane and Fabinho.

Possible Liverpool starting line-up: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Keita, Salah, Mane, Diaz.

For West Ham, Moyes may be able to recall boyhood Liverpool fan Aaron Cresswell to a side likely to resemble the one that lost to Southampton.

Possible West Ham line-up: Fabianski, Johnson, Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Lanzini, Fornals, Antonio.

Liverpool vs West Ham prediction

West Ham start the weekend in fifth place but there's a feeling that a top-four spot is starting to drift away from them.

Moyes never did well at Anfield with Everton and I expect that to continue on Saturday as the Reds go marching on.

Liverpool score plenty in this fixture and I'll take them to win 3-1.

READ MORE: Luis Diaz: Assessing the early impact and prospects of Liverpool's latest attacking talent

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