Liverpool Balik ke Posisi Kedua, Setelah Tekuk West Ham 4-1
Liverpool Went Second, after Beating West Ham 4-1
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
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Liverpool (B2B) - Liverpool kembali ke posisi kedua klasemen sementara Liga Premier Inggris setelah mengalahkan West Ham 4-1 di Anfield.
Sebuah gol bunuh diri Guy Demel membawa tim asuhan Brendan Rodgers unggul sebelum babak pertama berakhir, kemudian pemain bertahan Liverpool, Mamadou Sakho mencetak gol kedua Liverpool setelah babak kedua baru berjalan dua menit.
Martin Skrtel sempat membuat gol bunuh diri dan memberi harapan untuk West Ham mengejar defisit gol namun pada menit 80 Suarez mencetak gol ketiga Liverpool sekaligus gol ke-14 di liga musim ini, seperti dilansir Yahoo News.
Empat menit kemudian Suarez kembali melakukan tembakan yang mengenai Joey O´Brien sehingga terjadi gol bunuh diri. Gol tersebut menyegel kemenangan kandang kelima Liverpool secara beruntun.
Kapten West Ham, Kevin Nolan, dikartu merah karena melanggar Jordan Henderson.
Sam Allardyce, pelatih West Ham, membawa pemain andalannya seperti Guy Demel, George McCartney, Modibo Maiga dan Matt Jarvis sebagai reaksi atas kekalahan di pertengahan pekan ini ketika timnya kalah di Crystal Palace.
Maiga hampir membuka keunggulan untuk West Ham di menit ke-20 ketika Jarvis memberikan umpan silang.
Sundulan meyakinkan striker asal Mali tersebut ternyata mampu ditangkap Simon Mignolet, kiper Liverpool.
Liverpool mendominasi babak pertama, tapi berjuang keras untuk memecah lini pertahanan West Ham dan lima menit sebelum jeda Raheem Sterling menyia-nyiakan kesempatan emas didepan gawang West Ham.
Pada 10 menit babak kedua sang kapten, Steven Gerrard terpaksa diganti karena cedera tetapi secara keseluruhan Liverpool mengendalikan pertandingan ini sementara West Ham terlihat sangat kesulitan untuk merebut kendali bola dari Liverpool.
Kemenangan ini membuat Liverpool kembali bertengger di posisi kedua Lige Premier Inggris dengan mengoleksi 30 poin dari 15 laga terpaut empat poin dengan Arsenal yang menjadi pemuncak klasemen dengan menyisalak satu laga melawan Everton, besok malam.
Kembalinya Liverpool di posisi kedua karena Chelsea menderita kekalahan di kandang Stoke dengan skor 3-2 dan Manchester City bermain imbang 1-1 dikandang Southampton.
Liverpool - Liverpool went second in the Premier League table as they recorded a second comfortable home win in a week, beating West Ham 4-1 at Anfield.
The Reds dominated the opening period, although West Ham gave them a couple of minor scares, but looked like they would have to settle for 0-0 at the break until Guy Demel put through his own net three minutes from the interval.
It was two shortly after the break as Steven Gerrard´s free-kick was put back across goal by Mamadou Sakho before being diverted into the net by James Collins.
Liverpool looked rampant but were pegged back shortly after the hour as another own goal, this time from Martin Skrtel got West Ham back into the game.
There was a nervy few minutes for the home side as the Hammers threatened an equaliser before a lovely move ended with Luis Suarez heading past Jussi Jaaskelainen.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men when Kevin Nolan went through the back of Jordan Henderson shortly afterwards before Joey O´Brien added to the own goal count as he inadvertently deflected Suarez´s shot beyond Jaaskelainen.
The only downside to the day was the sight of Steven Gerrard limping off injured midway through the second half, which prompted a period of uncertainty which was in danger of developing into a terminal decline until Suarez´s intervention.
In the first half, even with Philippe Coutinho pulling the strings and dropping deep from his position behind the main striker, West Ham appeared to have worked out a way to stifle Liverpool´s primary threat.
Having seen a left-footed chip drift wide the 26-year-old was a lively presence in and around the penalty area and had a shot from Gerrard´s pass deflected wide before getting in the way of Henderson´s effort after he cut inside.
Raheem Sterling´s pace on the diagonal run from the right started to open up the Hammers´ defence - especially with Coutinho´s weight of pass timed to perfection - but he lacked an end product and his scuffed shot having outpaced his opponents failed to trouble Jaaskelainen.
That task fell to Suarez, of course, whose angled shot just before the break was not held by the Finn and bounced into the path of Demel who diverted the ball back past his own goalkeeper.
It was just the lucky break the home side needed after a first half of toil.
West Ham could feel slightly aggrieved as they had created the best chance when Modibo Maiga´s header was brilliantly tipped over by Simon Mignolet.
