Reds grind out win to take one step closer to the title

These are the type of games that title winners grind three points out of.

This match was arguably as big a test of Liverpool’s title credentials as the game against Manchester City at Anfield next Sunday lunchtime will be.

The weight of expectation was on the visitors following eight consecutive League victories and there was the added pressure of being the last to play on a weekend when fellow title challengers Manchester City and Chelsea recorded convincing home wins.

On top of that, Liverpool faced two disgruntled ex-Reds determined to enact revenge on their former employer in the form of Stewart Downing and Andy Carroll and Sam Allardyce always makes his teams notoriously difficult to play against.

Nevertheless, Brendan Rodgers’ side showed character to hold their nerve and claim a crucial 2-1 victory in the capital, which could be as vital to the Merseysiders in their pursuit of number 19 as any of their previous high-scoring victories.

Rodgers made one change to the side that put four past Tottenham last weekend, replacing the injured Daniel Agger with Mamadou Sakho alongside Martin Skrtel at centre back. The pair were tasked with combating the primarily aerial threat posed by the Hammers’ 6 foot 4 front-man Carroll and were relatively successful, with the tall Geordie having to resort to illegal means to have an impact in front of goal.

A relatively uneventful first half sparked into life in the final few minutes. Up to that point the match had been fairly even, with the only goalscoring opportunity of note coming after 20 minutes when Luis Suarez superbly sent the ball looping over everyone and it rebounded off the cross bar with the goalkeeper well beaten.

Suarez beat Adrian but couldn't beat the woodwork

With two minutes left before the interval, the number seven tried to flick the ball past Tomkins but was denied in the box by the 25 year old’s hand. Referee Anthony Taylor had no choice but to point to the spot, from which Gerrard coolly converted to seemingly give the away side a crucial half time lead.

Gerrard converted his first penalty with aplomb

Unfortunately, a combination of foul play from Carroll and inept refereeing contrived to prevent Liverpool going in ahead at the break. Instead of competing fairly to reach Mark Noble’s right wing corner, Carroll essentially slapped Mignolet on the face, understandably causing the Belgian keeper to spill the ball and allowing Guy Demel to prod home from close range.

Assistant referee Stuart Burt appeared to offer Liverpool a reprieve as he flagged for a foul, but Taylor scandalously overruled his assistant, ignoring both the Liverpool players’ protests and the replays of the incident that had been inadvertently played on the big screens.

Liverpool's protests fell on deaf ears

It was the sort of decision that made me question whether it was going to be Liverpool’s day. At 1-0, the Reds were clear favourites and would have had the momentum to secure the victory with further strikes after the break.

However, conceding an equaliser in those controversial circumstances in the dying embers of injury time could really have been a body blow, not just to Liverpool’s chances of beating West Ham, but also to their chances of clinching the title.

Thankfully, Rodgers and his men responded calmly and rationally. Displaying his tactical nous once again, Rodgers replaced Coutinho with Lucas at the break, reverting to a diamond formation, which allowed the full backs Johnson and Flanagan to bomb on down the wings, acting almost as third and fourth strikers at times.

With Gerrard sitting deep almost as a third centre back and Lucas and Henderson doing the leg work in the middle, the Merseysiders clearly gained the ascendancy and enjoyed more of the ball during the second 45 minutes.

They still had to deal with the threat of Carroll, though, who thundered a powerful header against the cross bar after beating Johnson to Diame’s cross on the hour mark. Overall, however, the Hammers struggled to craft decent goalscoring opportunities and, after the below-par Sturridge shot over the bar, Liverpool were awarded another penalty.

Lucas threaded a clever and incisive pass through for the on-rushing Flanagan, who went down under the challenge of the Spanish stopper Adrian. Although Adrian admittedly got a hand to the ball, it was insufficient since it failed to divert the ball away from Flanagan’s path and, had he not brought down the young full back, he would have had the opportunity to shoot goalwards.

It may have been a close call, but giving the visitors a second penalty was certainly far more reasonable than allowing Demel’s goal to stand at the end of the first half. Unsurprisingly, Gerrard made no mistake from the resulting penalty, converting his eleventh spot kick of the season with consummate ease to regain the lead for the Reds. It was also the skipper’s 173rd goal for the club, taking him above the spectating Kenny Dalglish in the club’s all-time record goal scorers’ table.

This is what scoring his second spot kick meant to the skipper

The closing stages were inevitably nervy for the away side, although that didn’t stop them continuing to have the best sights of goal. After Suarez’s claim that Armero had handled the ball in the box was turned down, the Uruguayan sent another extraordinary effort crashing against the bar and then was put through on goal by Sterling but saw his toe-poked effort blocked by Adrian.

Downing fired over from the edge of the box for the hosts, but apart from that West Ham never seriously worried the Reds, who held on to claim three crucial points which take them back to the top of the table with five games remaining.

This win takes the Reds one small but significant step closer to realising their title dreams. Let’s hope that this time next week we are not mourning the shattering of those dreams by Manchester City, but rather celebrating another victory over one of our title rivals and believing more than ever that number 19 is on its way to the Anfield trophy cabinet.

YNWA