West Ham United take on Liverpool at Anfield this weekend, in need of points in their survival fight. The Hammers are within two points of safety after a 0-0 draw with AFC Bournemouth last Saturday. The Reds did them a favour by beating Nottingham Forest, but Nuno Espirito Santo will know, only wins will get his Iron’s side out of trouble.
West Ham’s record against there Merseyside opponents is not great, the Hammers have beaten Liverpool just three times in the last 10 years. In fact, West Ham’s last win at Anfield came 11 years ago, as the Hammers won 3-0, thanks to goals from Manuel Lanzini, Mark Noble and Diafra Sakho, as both Noble and Phillippe Coutinho saw red.
The Iron’s last win over Liverpool came in 2021. A 3-2 win courtesy of goals from Kurt Zouma and Pablo Fornals alongside an Alisson own goal saw West Ham finish a cold November Sunday with all three points.
Since then, it has been all Liverpool in this fixture with the Reds winning the last four matchups between the two teams. This time though, the Hammers may have something up there sleeve to get them a result.
Nuno’s recent Liverpool record
West Ham’s secret weapon, might be Nuno’s record against Liverpool in recent years. Whilst the Hammers boss could not stop a 2-0 loss in November, the manager did go unbeaten against the Reds last season.
In his last trip their, with former club Nottingham Forest, Nuno came away a 1-0 winner. Thanks to a Callum Hudson-Odoi strike, his team secured all three points against Liverpool, ending Arne Slot’s winning start to life as Reds boss. The win is made even more impressive considering Slot’s team would go on to win the Premier League that season.
The Nuno guided Forest would follow that result up in the reverse fixture, securing a 1-1 draw with Liverpool. Chris Wood scored early on and Forest controlled the game for large parts, but were held to a draw that neither side would end up complaining about.
West Ham will be hoping that Nuno can channel the attitude from one of his former team’s, in order to send the Hammers back from Liverpool with some points.
West Ham’s improvement
West Ham have continued to improve over the last four weeks. Two draws and win from February has seen Nuno’s side become one of the form team’s in the Premier League.
There is no doubting that the trip to Liverpool will be the biggest test of the month, on the last day of it. Whilst the fitness of Konstantinos Mavropanos is something to watch, the likes of Axel Disasi, Mads Hermansen, Mateus Fernandes and Valentin Castellanos will be ready to go.
It’s becoming points or bust for the Hammers, with 11 games to go in their survival hunt.
