Liverpool 3 West Ham 2: Lukasz Fabianski’s blunder lets nervy Reds off the hook with unbeaten record intact
WELL that definitely wasn’t in the script.
Liverpool’s Invincible ambitions just about remain intact but their place in Premier League history were so nearly snatched away by the unlikeliest of opponents.
Relegation-threatened West Ham were supposed to be sacrificial lambs to the slaughter as the Champions-elect set out to equal Manchester City’s record of 18 straight victories.
But that is not how things worked out at wind-swept Anfield as the heroic Hammers gave Jurgen Klopp the fright of his life.
In the end they were undone by a hat-trick of howlers by keeper Lukasz Fabianski to keep Liverpool’s title party on schedule.
It means they now need just four more wins to end their 30-year wait to be crowned Champions and they could well be 28 points clear of the pack by the time closest rivals Manchester City next play in the Premier League.
Yet they will look back on this extraordinary night in disbelief at just how close they came to surrendering their 13-month unbeaten run in the League.
It seemed for all the world that this was going to be yet another routine win when Georginio Wijnaldum was given far too much room to head in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s ninth minute cross.
Fabianski got a firm hand to Wijnaldum’s effort but, not for the last time, faile to keep the ball out of his net.
But within three minutes West Ham were back on level terms when Issa Diop was able to hold off Joe Gomez to beat Alisson inside his near post from a Robert Snodgrass corner.
It was only the second goal which Liverpool had conceded in 17-and-a-half hours of Premier League football and one which absolutely nobody inside Anfield had seen coming.
No-one looked more surprised than Moyes at the unexpected gift from the meanest defence in football.
After 15 previous visits to Anfield as a manager without success, he certainly hadn’t been holding his breath about breaking his duck on this occasion.
Yet his team were proving to be far more resilient than in recent weeks as they dug in with everyone behind the ball to keep their opponents at arm’s length.
Fabianski, who knows he should have done better with Wijnaldum’s early goal, atoned for his earlier error with a flying save to keep out Mo Salah’s 16th minute curler.
But the Hammers keeper was struggling to make his ground when Alexander-Arnold fired inches wide as Liverpool tried to step on the gas.
The young England full-back then scraped the post with a 38th minute free-kick straight through the West Ham wall before Virgil van Dijk clipped the bar with a powerful from the resulting corner.
Liverpool were now starting to motor and it required all of the visitors’ determination to reach the half-time interval still on level terms.
For the second time in a month, 19-year-old Jeremy Ngakia had been handed the apparent hospital pass of trying to keep Liverpool at bay.
Yet the rookie full-back stuck to his task admirably despite the twin threat of Sadio Mane and Andrew Robertson.
Angelo Ogbonna was proving even more defiant, constantly throwing himself into last-ditch challenges to add to the growing frustration of the Kop.
And even the departure of the industrious Tomas Soucek with a 47th minute strain did not damage West Ham’s growing belief that there just might be something in this game for them.
And that confidence proved to be more than well-placed when Pablo Fornals drifted between Gomez and van Dijk to sweep home Declan Rice’s cross within eight minutes of replacing Soucek.
Yet all their hard work was undone by Liverpool’s 68th minute equaliser which will haunt Fabianski for the rest of his life.
Robertson’s low cut-back picked out Salah for a first time shot which was straight at the keeper but somehow was allowed to squirm through Fabianski’s hands and roll agonisingly over the line.
Moyes could only look on in horror and worse was to follow when Fabianski suffered another rush of blood with nine minutes remaining.
Gomez’s hopeful shot was charged down by Mark Noble and deflected across towards the edge of the penalty area.
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But Fabianski came haring out from his goal in a vain effort to beat Alexander-Arnold to the loose ball and left Mane with the simplest of tap-ins.
It was an absolute sickener for the Hammers and a blow which leaves them rapidly running out of time to haul their way out of the relegation zone.
And though will take heart from the fact they so nearly became only the second team this season to take a point off Liverpool, that will be scant consolation for Moyes and his players as they reflect on what might have been.