00:55 Liverpool Predicted XI
22:43 West Ham Predicted XI
43:01 Score Prediction

It's West Ham United vs Liverpool in the Premier League 20/21 campaign with David Moyes' West Ham inviting the Premier League champions Liverpool to the London Stadium.

Liverpool have showed a recent upturn in form, despite their excessive injuries particularly in the centre-back positons. Expect Jordan Henderson to slot back into this role alongside Nat Phillips with the expansive full-backs in Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson offering threat from wide and inverted areas.

Liverpool employed just the one pivot against Tottenham Hotspur, using the athleticism of Gini Wijnaldum to cover the lack of mobility at centre-back whilst using Thiago in advanced areas to benefit from his vision, passing range, ball retention and efforts from range.

In the absence of Henderson from midfield, expect the evergreen James Milner to be deployed in the 8 role with Jurgen Klopp looking to Thiago and Roberto Firmino to create from the 10 position.

No surprises in the forward three with Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah and Roberto Firmino occupying their usual roles. Mane and Salah will be used as inverted forwards, looking to benefit from the width created by the full-backs and use their mobility to get in beyond the back line. Roberto Firmino will be given the freedom to keep possession, draw out the opposition, as well as support attacking overloads in the press to benefit both the midfield and attacking line-up.

There are unlikely to be any changes to the West Ham side after an impressive performance vs Crystal Palace. The back-four will be the same in personnel but likely to sit in a low block to nullify the threat of the forward men.

Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek were superb in their intensity during the Palace game but the priority will be protecting the centre-backs from the overload in the final third, although both could use their ball recovering abilities to beat this and utilise the pace of Michail Antonio in behind.

Jarrod Bowen and Pablo Fornals will equally be relied upon to support their full-backs and restrict the movement of the full-backs to prevent Liverpool transitioning into West Ham's final third.

The difference in this return fixture is the presence of Michail Antonio, offering West Ham an option in the low block to hold the ball and play in behind the Liverpool high-line. With both this and the likelihood of Trent Alexander-Arnold's offensive positions, the Hammers could rely on Michail Antonio's runs from deep to create a one-on-one opportunity.

It'll be a tough fixture but one that West Ham can get a result in if they take their clutch moments in transition and from set-pieces.

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