Liverpool vs West Ham: Match preview with betting tips and prediction

Liverpool get back to defending their Premier League title when they welcome West Ham to Anfield on Saturday evening.

The champions have stuttered of late as they followed up the humiliating 7-2 defeat at Aston Villa with a costly 2-2 draw against Everton and needed a second-half winner from Diogo Joto to edge past Sheffield United on home soil at the weekend.

However, despite dropping five points from their last three league games, Liverpool still sit joint top of the table with Merseyside rivals Everton and Jurgen Klopp’s side remain favourites to retain the title this season following Man City’s poor start to the campaign.

West Ham head to Anfield sitting 12th in the division after a tough start that’s seen them take eight points from their opening six games having been handed an extremely difficult fixture list during the opening weeks of the new season.

However, they’ve just come off the back of an impressive unbeaten run that’s seen them take points from games against Leicester, Man City and Tottenham so boss David Moyes will be hoping to pull-off another shock by taking a positive result away from Liverpool on Saturday.

Betting tips

A look at the live sports betting odds show us that Liverpool are the 3/10 favourites with the bookmakers to win the game while West Ham can be backed at 15/2 to take home all three points. The draw is on offer at odds of 4/1.

The Reds may also be feeling the effects of their Champions League run-out in midweek so this could be tighter than some predict. A 2-0 Liverpool win is available at 13/2 but we like the look of 2-1 at odds of 13/2.

Team news

Liverpool will continue to be without Virgil van Dijk as the centre-back is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a serious knee injury that he sustained against Everton earlier this month. Joel Matip will need to be assessed ahead of the game but Fabinho will miss out after picking up an injury in midweek.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is still out with a long-term knee injury while summer signing Kostantinos Tsimikas remains on the treatment table with a thigh problem.

As for West Ham, they’ll need to assess Michail Antonio after he picked up a hamstring issue against Man City but otherwise Moyes has no other injury concerns to deal with so the football club is in good shape.

Prediction

Liverpool have a formidable record at Anfield and will be extremely confident of easing past an inconsistent West Ham side. However, we don’t expect the Hammers to get blown away as they’ve shown recently they can mix it with the big-boys.

The Reds are yet to hit top form this season so that will give West Ham some confidence but we still expect Klopp’s men to secure all three points in the end.

Liverpool 2-1 West Ham