After an astounding defending victory against Tottenham, Liverpool must feel confident of themselves and their abilities in the squad players. Next up for the Reds, they travel to London to face the in-form West Ham side who have found goals easy to come by. Liverpool will be looking to win the game and take all three points away from London and take their place back in the Premier League title race.
It has been reported that Joel Matip was injured in the game against Tottenham and didn’t turn up in the second half. This makes Liverpool’s defensive problems even worse as Fabinho and Matip both are out injured. It will be interesting to see how Jurgen Klopp tackles these new problems as Liverpool boss, as he already has most of his defenders out with injury.
Let us now have a look at how Jurgen Klopp might set his Liverpool side against an in-form West Ham side in the Premier League.
THE 4-2-3-1
Liverpool are really struggling to keep pace with the injuries they have been getting to the players in the defensive department. The injuries of Joel Matip and Fabinho means that the likes of Henderson and Nat Philips are likely to start at the heart of the Liverpool defence. The full-backs looked great against Tottenham and it might just be the game where both the players got their mojo back of last season.
Wijnaldum and Thiago are likely to play as the midfield pivot enabling Robertson and Alexander Arnold to bomb forward. Thiago was superb against Tottenham and it was arguably his best performance in a Liverpool shirt since his arrival. Wijnaldum was surprisingly disciplined in Liverpool’s last game and played in a more withdrawn role than Thiago suiting both the players. Shaqiri or Minamino might get a place in the midfield in such a formation on the right flank.
The trio of Mane, Salah and Firmino finally look to get going this season as all of them were heavily involved against Tottenham. Firmino is the key to get the goals for Liverpool, but it is the other way where Klopp has been getting nightmares about the Liverpool defence.
THE 4-3-3
The 4-3-3 is the only other formation Klopp has used at Liverpool and it might be a good idea to use it against West Ham. The Londoners have been good scoring all types of goals and are in abundant when it comes to players who score goals for them. Liverpool need to be wary of not conceding too many set-pieces as Soucek has been unplayable sometimes when it comes to attacking the set-piece deliveries.
James Milner walks into the Liverpool side in such a system because of his work rate, experience and quality on the ball. Thiago will again need to orchestrate the play for the Reds to have any chance of Liverpool continuing the winning run. The goal-scoring aspects of Wijnaldum’s play might also be important in such a system as he gets some important goals when the team needs it most.
Liverpool against West Ham will be a mouth-watering prospect for the neutrals as both the sides will go for the win and none will give in.
