Premier League: Liverpool VS West Ham United: Darwin Nunez and Alisson Becker lead the Reds to a deserved victory

Nunez nodded home who proved to be the winner in the 22nd minute, but Alisson was also crucial; aside from the penalty save off Jarrod Bowen, he also denied Tomas Soucek toward the end of the game. 

The result is a big plus for Liverpool; they have now won back-to-back PL games and kept a clean second sheet. 

However, it was anything but straightforward. West Ham might have started the game in a manner that made things easy for Liverpool, but they were much better in the second half. 

The introduction of Michail Antonio off the bench gave West Ham some much-needed energy and a physical presence up front to harry the Reds’ defence. 

Liverpool remained unfazed, primarily to their credit – even though the Hammers created a glut of chances after that. 

But perhaps their biggest one came towards the end of the first half when a Joe Gomez tackle on Bowen occurred; referee Stuart Atwell surprisingly ignored that. 

However, he was advised by VAR to check the pitch-side monitor, and West Ham was duly awarded a penalty. 

Yet Bowen did not look too confident stepping up to take the spot kick, and Alisson quickly saved his tame shot. 

An improved West Ham caused significantly more trouble in the second half, but through a combination of Liverpool’s resilience and wastefulness, they could not find a way through. 

Said Benrahma had an excellent chance at levelling things when he was found by Declan Rice unmarked at the far post. However, his shot was a lame one, and Alisson gleefully collected. 

But arguably, the best chance fell to Soucek in the 87th minute. The Czech midfielder was found in space after some good combination play from Benrahma and Bowen, but his shot was deflected slightly by a last-ditch tackle from James Milner before Alisson completed the save. 

Afterwards, Klopp praised his side’s gritty nature but did stress the need to make further improvements as the season wore on. 

“That we have space for improvement is evident. But we have three points more, and it feels massive. We brought it over the line. We needed Allison and Milly’s big time. 

“It was really important we brought it over the line in a tight game because that didn’t happen too often this season.” 

On the other hand, David Moyes was understandably disappointed that his side came away with nothing from this game. 

“I’m disappointed not to come away with anything when we had ample opportunities. It’s the same story the last few times we’ve been here. 

“I was hoping to change it tonight but we were not able to get it over the line.” 

The result sees Liverpool climb seventh in the table, four points off fourth-placed Chelsea. West Ham drops down to 13th in the table.