This weekend West Ham travel to Anfield: the ground we’ve had the least success at over the past 50 years. Liverpool can run a bit hot and cold, but apart from losing to West Brom in the FA Cup they have been playing well, and scoring profusely. Ahead of the game I spoke to an old friend and scouser in exile (In Lincoln) to discuss the fixture.
Hi Ray, a game against West Ham at home must be the dream game for Liverpool fans given the paucity of our results against you over the years, so I assume you’re feeling confident about this one?
Absolutely confident
Liverpool have had some great results lately, has Jurgen Kloop finally managed to stamp his credo on the team, or are we destined to see Liverpool flatter to deceive again?
Not on Saturday.
Liverpool are sat in 3rd place with the same points as Chelsea in fourth, do you think the top four places are nailed on now?
As long as we are in there I’m not bothered about the rest.
Where do you think West Ham can realistically finish the season?
I reckon a solid 15th
Which three teams do you think will suffer relegation and can anyone stop Man City winning the Premiership?
Too tight to call at the bottom, as for the other …No way Jose!
We’ve spoken about Jurgen Klopp, how do you rate West Ham’s manager the ex-Evertonian David Moyes (I seem to remember his record against Liverpool was not so good)?
A good start, flatters to deceive.
Philippe Coutinho has now departed for Barcelona, as did Luis Suarez, have you reconciled yourself to Liverpool being no longer the club of choice in England, let alone Europe?
Been like that for a while I’m afraid!
How about Daniel Sturridge going out on loan to West Brom, what do you think about that, I know he has the fitness reliability of Andy Carroll, but he did actually score some goals – do you think Kloop just doesn’t fancy him?
For some reason, I reckon he just doesn’t like Brummies.
Mo Salah has made a great impact on your season, who else has impressed, and conversely, who has disappointed?
Can has impressed, disappointments have been Wijnaldum, Moreno, Mignolet, Karius, etc, etc.
Which players from other teams in the League have impressed you this season?
De Gea, Zaha, De Bruyne, Sterling, Firminho
Apart from that forgettable day at the FA Cup Final in Cardiff, any particular memories of West Ham/Liverpool games of the past?
No
If you could have any current West Ham player in your first team who would you choose and why?
Zaballeta for his haircut
Which Liverpool players in your current squad would stand comparison with the great Liverpool players of the past?
Mo Salah, Robertson, Gomez.
*A bit surprised that you are rating Gomez and Robertson so early on in their careers. So how do you expect Liverpool to setup against West Ham on Saturday/ Team/formation prediction? *
3,4,3
Prediction for score?
4-0
Thanks to Ray for his comments – classic Liverpool arrogance! You can see that he doesn’t rate us at all! Much as it breaks my heart to predict a loss I’m going to go for a 1-0 win to them, but will still throw a tenner on us to win by the same amount. COYI.