Liverpool travel to West Ham on Saturday evening aiming to keep pace with the leading pack.
The Reds have won their last two Premier League games to steady the ship after losing two of their
first three encounters.
West Ham have not won since the opening day of the season and they will be keen to secure their
first home success of the campaign.
Liverpool travel to Upton Park today to face a Hammers side that has 4 points from 4 games,
losing away to Wigan their last time out. Last time the Reds visited the Boleyn Ground they cruised
to a 3-0 win, with Gerrard netting twice and Ryan Babel finishing the scoring off late.
This time out could be different Liverpool are a club desperately in need of finding consistent
form, and the performance against Debrecen on Wednesday was less than encouraging.
Fernando Torres scored twice as Liverpool held off a brave fightback from West Ham to earn a
deserved 3-2 victory in a five-goal thriller at Upton Park.
Torres put the Reds in front in the 19th minute with a fine solo goal but debutant Alessandro
Diamanti levelled from the penalty spot.
London derby time. Lineups are in:
Arsenal: Starters: Mannone, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy,
Fabregas, Song, Diaby, Eboue, van Persie, Arshavin. Bench: Almunia, Eduardo, Nasri,
Ramsey, Silvestre, Gibbs, Bendtner.
West Ham: Starters: Green, Spector, Tomkins, Upson, Ilunga, Behrami,
Parker, Noble, Collison, Cole, Franco.
Good start but even Van Persie couldn't have guess the final outcome
I'm beginning to think that I curse the players. Since I've been effusively praising a certain
player or a certain combination, there's bound to be something that went wrong with them in the
said match. The Diaby-Song combo did not work well tonight.
Fresh from World Cup draw fever, the attention will once more be focused on the Premier League.
Manchester United have the rare occurrence of a Saturday, 3pm kick-off, and the lucky recipients of
a visit from Sir Alex Ferguson on his 1,300th game in charge of the Red Devils are West Ham United.
That's 3pm GMT at Upton Park or the Boleyn Ground if you prefer.
12:30pm, live in the US on FSC
Last 4 head-to-head:
0-0 (h) 12.01.08
4-0 Liverpool (h) 03.05.08
0-1 West Ham (a) 01.30.08
2-1 Liverpool (a) 01.30.07
Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 3-0 Newcastle (h); 3-1 Hull (a); 4-4 Arsenal (h)
West Ham: 1-0 Stoke (a); 0-1 Chelsea (h); 1-1 Villa (a)
Goalscorers (league):
Liverpool: Gerrard, Torres 13; Kuyt 11; Benayoun 7; Alonso 4; Riera 3; Aurelio, Babel, Ngog
2; Agger, Arbeloa, Carragher, Dossena, Hyypia, Lucas 1
West Ham: Cole 9; Di Michele 4; Collison, Noble, Tristan 3; Ashton 2; Behrami, Davenport,
Mullins, Neill, Parker, Stanislas, Tomkins 1
Referee: Alan Wiley
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Arbeloa Carragher Agger Aurelio
Lucas Mascherano
Kuyt Gerrard Benayoun
Torres
Tomorrow comes too soon for Alonso.
Midfielders
Valon Behrami : Appearances - 27, Goals - 2, Bookings - 5
When I heard that we had signed Valon Behrami I just shrugged in that uber cool,
but still quite attractive, way that I do. "So what?" I wondered. And for the first few games my
insouciance seemed reasonable as Behrami ran around a lot but failed to have any tangible
impression on anything.
After the euphoria of a crazy 5-3 win over Burnley, an injury crisis jolts West Ham back to
reality. Carlton Cole is confirmed out of action until the new year. Valon Behrami and Alessandro
Diamanti are sidelined with injuries, knee and hip respectively. Matty Upson cannot seem to shake
off his hamstring problem.
