Liverpool

Liverpool vs. West Ham 2023-24 Preview & Team News

Published

10 months ago

September 23, 2023

Liverpool vs. West Ham 2023-24 Preview & Team News

Liverpool return to the Premier League when they host West Ham United on Sunday afternoon at Anfield. The Reds are on a five game winning streak and are undefeated this season, only drawing their first match against Chelsea.

Despite this, they have yet to manage a clean sheet and have, more often than not, found themselves needing to claw back to victory after conceding an early goal. The good news is that Virgil van Dijk will return to league play after a two game suspension. The bad news is that new player Ryan Gravenberch hobbled off the pitch on Thursday.

Klopp is hopeful that it’s only a cramp, but regardless, Gravenberch will likely not be included in the starting XI on a Thursday / Sunday turnaround.

Graverberch, as mentioned, is doubtful for Sunday’s match. Also probably not ready to come back will be Trent Alexander-Arnold and Thiago Alcantara, so we’re likely to see Joe Gomez resume his substitute role at right-back.

For West Ham, Jarrod Bowen and Aaron Cresswell will both need to be assessed before the match. Meanwhile, Moyes has a host of players returning from injury, including Alphonse Areola, Vladimir Coufal, Kurt Zouma, Nayef Aguerd and Emerson Palmieri.

What the Managers Had to Say

Jurgen Klopp: “But there are so many extremely strong opponents – West Ham is one of them when you see them. Really exciting project as well. I’m happy for David that he really built this team now over a few years. Even with Declan Rice out, they look really good, I have to say. [James] Ward-Prowse, super signing.”

David Moyes: “In recent years, we have given them tough games and we’ll try to give them a good game on Sunday. We know we’re playing a good side and we want to show what we can do.”

The Officials

Referee: Chris Kavanagh. Assistants: Mat Wilkes, Mark Scholes. Fourth official: Craig Pawson. VAR: David Coote. Assistant VAR: Nick Greenhalgh.

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‘Super’ Liverpool youngster puts in bang average performance after finally getting loan start

Liverpool youngster Fabio Carvalho seems to be something of a forgotten man at the moment after moving to RB Leipzig in the summer.

Carvalho was farmed out on loan in the summer and has so far struggled to make any sort of impact over in Germany, failing to start a game before today.

And after being handed his first start against Borussia Monchengladbach today, it doesn’t seem like Carvalho has pulled up too many trees

Fabio Carvalho finally makes full debut for RB Leizpig

Carvalho’s time with Liverpool and then subsequently with Leipzig so far has not gone brilliantly.

Since starring for Fulham and earning his move to Anfield, Carvalho’s career has gone a tad stale.

However, he did get his first start for Leipzig today and it seems that rather than seizing his chance, he’s delivered a very middle of the road performance.

Per WhoScored, Carvalho was given a 6.48 rating for his performance, the fifth lowest in the entire team for the Bundesliga outfit. The game did finish 1-0 to Leipzig, but Carvalho didn’t exactly pull up many trees.

Carvalho did manage to get his solitary shot on target, but he wasn’t in the game much, completing just the 16 passes – only two players managed less – in his 70 minutes on the field.

RTK’s View: A big year needed

Going out on loan can always make or break a young player and it definitely seems that Carvalho needs a big season this year to get himself right.

He struggled to get going with Liverpool last year and while it’s obvious he is a ‘super‘ talent – as Klopp termed him – he needs to offer more.

Hopefully, this start today is the first of many to come in the coming weeks and months. From there, Carvalho can hopefully kick on and become a key player for RB Leipzig.

‘Haven’t seen that since Jordan Henderson’: Emile Heskey says Liverpool now have a player with endless energy

Dominik Szoboszlai has taken the Premier League by storm so far.

To say that the Hungarian has hit the ground running at Liverpool would be an understatement. He’s already looking like one of the Reds’ best players and his style of play suits Jurgen Klopp to a tee

Szoboszlai has bundles of energy and incredible technique to boot, and according to Emile Heskey, speaking to The Mirror, we haven’t seen a player like this at Anfield since a prime Jordan Henderson.

Endless energy

Heskey spoke about Liverpool’s new signing.

“He looks comfortable, and that’s one of the things with any new signing, if you can get them feeling as comfortable as possible as quickly as you can that’s what you’ll get. He’s very energetic and he can do box-to-box. We haven’t seen that since Jordan Henderson when he was really at his peak. With age he changed, but at his peak he was very much energy, box-to-box, it was like having three players. Kind of Kante-esque. That’s the sort of player you need,” Heskey said.

Liverpool Pre-Season Training Camp — **Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images**

Just what they needed

Szoboszlai may have only have played a few games for Liverpool, but he’s already ticking so many boxes for the Reds.

As Heskey says, he has the energy of a player like Jordan Henderson, but he also has the technique of someone like Thiago Alcantara. Simply put, he is the full package and he suits this Liverpool team to a tee.

Liverpool had to get their midfield recruitment spot on this summer, and it looks as though they have found a gem in the shape of Szoboszlai.

The Reds have a new midfield superstar on their hands here.

On the other side of the pitch, David Moyes’ men have had a healthy start to the season. They’ve managed 10 points from their first five games. However, one of the best stats in all of world football is Moyes’ record with teams at Anfield. We can only hope he continues his hilariously ineffective streak on Sunday.