Saturday 7th December
15:00
Anfield
Liverpool vs West Ham United
Analysis
Anfield. That usually means one thing.
Our record there in the last 50 years is: Played 40. Won 0. Drawn 11. Lost 29. I'm sure you don't need my help to work it out, but that's a win rate of 0%.
It's safe to say this isn't a happy hunting ground for us. It's also probably fair to say that on Saturday we will come up against one of the stronger Liverpool sides of the last 20 years. And one player in particular has lit up his side this season.
Luis Suarez has scored an astonishing 13 goals in 9 games this season. That's one more than the entire West Ham side have managed, in 5 less games.
We've known for a while that Luis Suarez is a top class player - last season he managed 23 Premier League goals in just 33 games. But this season he seems to have reached an even greater level.
The image below shows the Uruguayan's chance conversion in the Premier League since joining Liverpool in January 2011. As you can see, the clinical nature of his finishing this season is in stark contrast to previous years. This season, he has found the back of the net with 25% of his shots on goal (13/52). Even last season, his fantastic return of 23 goals still only came with a conversion rate of 12%.
If West Ham are to end our Anfield jinx, we'll need to keep Suarez quite - but that is something easier said than done.
But Suarez isn't the only threat in this Liverpool side. The potent Daniel Sturridge may be absent from the side, but Suarez will be supported by a very able cast.
Obviously Steven Gerrard has been a thorn in our side over the past 15 years, but the player who we will need to keep a close eye on this weekend is Philippe Coutinho.
The little Brazilian has proven to be a very dangerous attacking midfielder since moving from Internazionale in January. Last season, he created 20 chances in 13 games, bagging 5 assists along the way.
This season has been a little more stop start for Coutinho, having missed five games through injury, but he has still managed to create 16 chances in 9 appearances, with 1 assist.
His performance on the opening day of the season against Stoke City was possibly his best in a Liverpool shirt so far, creating 6 goalscoring opportunities for his team mates, as shown in the image below.
As you can see, he created all of these opportunities coming in off the left flank and picking passes for his team mates.
One area of potential weakness in this Liverpool side has been defensively.
After keeping three clean sheets in their opening three games, they have only managed to keep one more in the following eleven matches, conceding 17 goals in the process.
The image below shows a break down of the types of goals they have conceded this season. Although the majority have come from open play, Liverpool have conceded 6 goals from corners or set pieces ('Other' in the key below).
West Ham haven't made nearly enough of our set pieces this season, but if we want to get anything from the the Reds, this could be a good area to target. With the likes of James Tomkins and James Collins in the side, we should be capable of trouble the Liverpool defence from set pieces - so let's hope Mark Noble and Stewart Downing can serve up something useful.
If there is ever a home banker in football, this fixture is usually it.
But going into this season, we hadn't won at White Hart Lane in god knows how long. Everton hadn't won at Old Trafford in an age until this week. So why can't this be the time tat we finally win at Anfield?
It's will happen one day, won't it?
Head to Head
53% Head to Head Win % 19%
66 Won 24
35 Drawn 35
24 Lost 66
208 Goals Scored 118
118 Goals Conceded 208
Recent Form
W L W D L W Last 6 W D L L W L
17 Goals Scored 6
10 Goals Conceded 7
W L W W W W Home/Away Form L W D W L L
17 Goals Scored 6
4 Goals Conceded 5
Form Player (Last 6 League)
Luis Suarez - James Tomkins
6 Appearances 6
538 Minutes Played 540
395 Sum Squawka Performance Score 168
66 Average Squawka Performance Rating 28
238 Passes Attempted 218
175 Completed 166
74% Success Rate 76%
18 Chances Created 2
1 Assists 0
32 Attempts on Goal 1
19 On Target 1
10 Goals 0
49 Take Ons Attempted 1
18 Successful Take Ons 1
37% Success Rate 100%
6 Tackles Made 15
12 Successful Tackles 10
200% Success Rate 67%
2 Interceptions 9
0 Clearances 78
0 Blocks 3
0 Defensive Actions Per Game 15
15 Aerial Duels 47
4 Won 34
27% Success Rate 72%
0 Defensive Errors 0
0 Leading to a Goal 0
Last Meeting
07 April 2013
4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1
Pepe Reina - Jussi Jääskeläinen
Glen Johnson - Guy Demel
Jamie Carragher - James Collins
Daniel Agger - (83') James Tomkins
Jose Enrique - Joey O'Brien
Lucas Leiva - Gary O'Neil
Steven Gerrard - Mohamed Diamé
Stewart Downing (25') - (62') Ricardo Vâz Te
Jordan Henderson (71') - (62') Kevin Nolan
Philippe Coutinho - Matt Jarvis
Luis Suarez - Carlton Cole
Subs
Brad Jones - Stephen Henderson
Sebastien Coates - (83') Emanuel Pogatetz
Martin Skrtel - Daniel Potts
Suso - (62') Matthew Taylor
Jonjo Shelvey - (62') Jack Collison
Oussama Assaidi (71') - Modibo Maïga
Daniel Sturridge (25') - Marouane Chamakh
Absentees
Injured/Doubtful
Liverpool: Kolo Toure, Sebastien Coates, Jose Enrique, Daniel Sturridge
West Ham United: Winston Reid, Alou Diarra, Ricardo Vâz Te, Mladen Petrić, Andy Carroll
Suspensions
Liverpool: n/a
West Ham United: Ravel Morrison
Opposition Last Time Out
vs Norwich City
Goals Scored: 5
Goals Conceded: 1
Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1
Simon Mignolet
Glen Johnson Martin Skrtel Daniel Agger Jon Flanagan
Steven Gerrard Joe Allen
Jordan Henderson (69') Philippe Coutinho Raheem Sterling
Luis Suarez (89')
subs:
Brad Jones
Kolo Toure
Mamadou Sakho
Lucas Leiva
Victor Moses
Luis Alberto (69')
Iago Aspas (89')
Best Player: Luis Suarez
Squawka Rating: 188
Worst Player: Jon Flanagan
Squawka Rating: -28
Top 5's (Min 5 Apps)
Goals Scored
Luis Suarez 13 - 3 Ravel Morrison
Daniel Sturridge 9 - 2 Ricardo Vâz Te
Steven Gerrad 3 - 2 Joe Cole
Raheem Sterling 1 - 1 Carlton Cole
Victor Moses 1 - 1 Winston Reid
Assists
Steven Gerrard 5 - 2 Matt Jarvis
Luis Suarez 2 - 2 Ravel Morrison
Daniel Sturridge 2 - 2 Kevin Nolan
Jose Enrique 2 - 1 Stewart Downing
Jordan Henderson 1 - 1 Mohamed Diamé
Passing Accuracy
Mamadou Sakho 92% - 87% Ravel Morrison
Martin Skrtel 91% - 84% Mark Noble
Lucas Leiva 91% - 83% Joe Cole
Steven Gerrard 87% - 83% Stewart Downing
Daniel Agger 87% - 80% Kevin Nolan
Chances Created per game
Luis Suarez 2.7 - 2.3 Stewart Downing
Steven Gerrard 2.6 - 1.9 Mark Noble
Philippe Coutinho 1.7 - 1.3 Matt Jarvis
Jordan Henderson 1.6 - 1.1 Kevin Nolan
Glen Johnson 1.3 - 0.9 Rǎzvan Raţ
Successful Dribbles per game
Luis Suarez 2.9 - 2.2 Mohamed Diamé
Philippe Coutinho 2.8 - 1.9 Ravel Morrison
Glen Johnson 2.1 - 1.8 Mark Noble
Daniel Sturridge 2.1 - 0.9 Guy Demel
Victor Moses 1.6 - 0.8 Stewart Downing
Tackles per game
Lucas Leiva 5.1 - 2.6 Mark Noble
Glen Johnson 3.1 - 2.6 Mohamed Diamé
Steven Gerrard 2.8 - 2.6 James Collins
Jordan Henderson 2.7 - 2 Winston Reid
Kolo Toure 2.2 - 1.9 Guy Demel
Aerial Duels Won per game
Martin Skrtel 2.7 - 6.3 Modibo Maïga
Daniel Agger 2.5 - 5.1 James Tomkins
Mamadou Sakho 2.4 - 4.1 James Collins
Glen Johnson 2.3 - 3.2 Winston Reid
Lucas Leiva 2.1 - 2 Carlton Cole
Manager
Brendan Rodgers - Sam Allardyce
48.5% Current Club Win % 41.2%
34 Won 45
18 Drawn 29
18 Lost 35
41.6% Managerial Career Win % 39.9%
92 Won 339
60 Drawn 228
69 Lost 282
0 League Titles 2
0 Cup Wins 0
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