0-1 MIN. 22, MANE. 1-1, MIN. 28, ANTONIO.

West Ham United 1-1 Liverpool: Hammers hold the Reds as their Premier League title pursuit continues

West Ham managed to bounce back against league leaders Liverpool after a horrendous run of form.

West Ham United 1-1 Liverpool: Hammers hold the Reds as their Premier League title pursuit continues
Photo: West Ham United/Getty Images - Avril Husband
alan-rzepa
By Alan Rzepa

West Ham United held league leaders Liverpool to a score draw in an impressive performance by the Londoners.

The Hammer came into the game on the back of three consecutive losses, while the top of the league Liverpool were looking for all three points after a 1-1 draw against Leicester City.

Sadio Mane's finish after a controversial decision by the referee was quickly levelled by a wonderful free-kick routine finished off by Michail Antonio.

Story of the game

It was meant to be an easy game for the Reds who currently sit 30 points above their rivals, West Ham. But it never was.

Straight from the start the Hammers shown glimpses of promise with Javier Hernandez and Aaron Cresswell coming very close to scoring with efforts from just outside the box.

They've piled up the pressure on a very weakened Liverpool's defence as James Milner and Joel Matip couldn't handle or contain Felipe Anderson's pace and flair.

Unfortunately, as it always happens with wasted opportunities, one lack of concentration let the Reds to come up front.

Adam Lallana played a pass to Milner who then squared it to Sadio Mane who managed to turn away from Issa Diop and finished it beyond Łukasz Fabiański's reach.

And the mentioned lack of concentration came not from any of the players, but from the linesman who seemed to be caught ball-watching as he missed Milner who was standing offside in the buildup to the goal.

And despite that, West Ham continued to attack in search of a quick reply.

Their opportunity came just six minutes later after a free kick was played short and Anderson played a beautiful through pass to Antonio who caught Naby Keita sleeping by making a perfect run before finishing it into the bottom left corner of Alisson's net.

The Hammers had one more big opportunity to be on top just before the break.

Anderson's short free-kick was this timed crossed into the box where Declan Rice managed to beat the offside trap and find himself in the perfect position, but his header went just over the bar.

After the break, the chances weren't as clear as in the first half because Liverpool wasn't enough to break the fantastically working West Ham's defensive setup.

The closest any of both sides came to scoring the winning goal was in the 93rd minute when Divock Origi was put in on goal by Keita but he wasted his chance by shooting it straight into Fabianski's hands.

Takeaways from the game

Impressive Cresswell

After being out with an injury Cresswell has managed to instantly come back into the side replacing the very unimpressive Arthur Masuaku.

Very unlucky to not score in the first half he managed to stop Mohammed Salah from threatening Fabiański's goal, which in itself has been a very big achievement.

Horrific record stopped by the Hammers

Before the game, Liverpool were obvious favourites by looking just as the past games, not even because of position in the league of both sides.

The Merseyside team four of the past five games, scoring four goals on all occasions, with the fifth game being a 2-2 draw in Dimitri Payet's last ever goal-scoring game in a West Ham shirt.

And today's result stopped that four-game losing streak from the hand of Liverpool, although it kept the run of games without a win still going.

Man Of The Match

After a few lacklustre performances, Felipe Anderson finally showed his best, in the best way possible. He was a constant threat down the left-hand side as well as from the set pieces. His fabulous performance have been capped off by an assist, but it could've been much more than just that.