Liverpool loses ground with West Ham draw

AP , Sunday 11 Dec 2016

Liverpool
West Ham United's Edimilson Fernandes, left, and Liverpool's Roberto Firmino battle for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match at Anfield, Liverpool (AP)

Liverpool lost ground in the title race with a 2-2 draw at home to West Ham on Sunday.

It all seemed to be going to plan for the Reds after five minutes when Adam Lallana finished smartly into the bottom corner after Sadio Mane had picked him out in the box, but two errors soon changed things at Anfield.

The first came from under-fire keeper Loris Karius, who let a free kick from Dimitri Payet nestle into the bottom corner despite managing to get his fingers to it on 28 minutes.

West Ham then took the lead after 39 minutes when the usually reliable Joel Matip, back from injury, let the ball skip past him with Michail Antonio lurking and poked the ball past Karius to give the Hammers a 2-1 lead at the break.

Liverpool started the second half well and were level just three minutes after the restart when Divock Origi pounced on a mistake from Darren Randolph and tapped home into an empty net.

The home side continued to apply pressure but the Hammers stood firm and for once this season looked impressive at the back. The Reds soon ran out of ideas and West Ham hung on for a deserved point.

It's certainly a case of two points dropped for Liverpool, whose title credentials seem to be coming under question, but for West Ham there are definitely signs of improvement.

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