Monday, December 18
 

Result: Liverpool held at home by West Bromwich Albion

Liverpool miss the chance to move into the top four of the Premier League table courtesy of a goalless draw with West Bromwich Albion at Anfield.

Liverpool have missed the chance to move back into the top four of the Premier League table, having been held to a goalless draw by West Bromwich Albion at Anfield this evening.

The Reds dominated possession for long spells of the match and thought they had nicked a late winner when Dominic Solanke came off the bench to bundle a Joe Gomez cross into the back of the net.

However, the goal was disallowed in controversial fashion and West Brom held on to come away from Anfield with a point which lifts them out of the relegation zone and back up to 17th place.

Liverpool, meanwhile, remain fifth courtesy of a second home draw in the space of four days having failed to score in a game for the first time since October.

With Burnley's win over Stoke City on Tuesday night seeing Liverpool drop out of the Champions League places, Jurgen Klopp welcomed Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino back into his starting lineup, having rested them for the Merseyside derby at the weekend.

Those were two of six changes made by Klopp from Sunday's draw with Everton, although the front four of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Coutinho and Firmino struggled to break down a stubborn West Brom defence in the opening exchanges.

Salah and Firmino did combine to create the first clear chance of the game 17 minutes in, and it should have resulted in the opening goal too as Salah's incisive pass found Firmino, who slid his finish inches past the far post from an acute angle.

Claudio Yacob had the visitors' first sight of goal with a header which flew off target five minutes later, and it was the Baggies who came closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half when Hal Robson-Kanu's dipping strike from range clipped the top of the crossbar with Loris Karius beaten.

Coutinho almost came up with an immediate response when he worked space to shoot before firing a 25-yard effort into the arms of Ben Foster, and Salah also threatened the opening goal shortly afterwards but was unable to get anything on the end of Trent Alexander-Arnold's dangerous delivery.

Liverpool continued to knock on the door at the end of the first half, but West Brom had the bodies back in defence to deal with the danger as both Firmino and Salah were denied by blocks in quick succession from inside the penalty area.

It was West Brom who started the second half on top, though, winning a string of set pieces which forced Karius into saves from Grzegorz Krychowiak and Yacob before Ahmed Hegazi put a header well over when he should have done better.

Liverpool soon responded, but once again they failed to capitalise on the rare occasion they cut through the Baggies' defence, with Mane firing one effort wide from a good position before Salah could not react in time to steer Alexander-Arnold's cross on target.

Having frustrated their hosts for most of the match, West Brom almost gifted Liverpool the opening goal when Foster fell victim to a swirling wind inside Anfield, misjudging an attempted punch and then spilling the ball when trying to atone for the error, but Georginio Wijnaldum could not react to the loose ball in time to turn it home from close range.

It was not until the final 10 minutes that Liverpool really started pushing for a winner, though, and they thought they had it in the 82nd minute when Solanke - on as a sub for Mane - bundled the ball into the back of the net after Hegazi had failed to cut out a cross from Gomez.

The goal initially looked to have been given, but referee Paul Tierney belatedly chose to disallow it for a handball, much to the chagrin of Klopp.

Liverpool were immediately back on the front foot, though, and almost made it a meaningless debate two minutes later when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was thwarted by Foster and Solanke then saw his follow-up effort cleared off the line by Hegazi.

Oxlade-Chamberlain had another sight of goal moments later having cut inside from Solanke's pass, but he drilled his finish straight at Foster as West Brom continued to hang on for the point which lifts them back out of the bottom three.

The Baggies are still goalless under new manager Alan Pardew, though, while the draw also sees them set a new unwanted club record of 16 consecutive games without a win across all competitions.

Liverpool, by contrast, are now unbeaten in 11 matches but the hosts will be the more disappointed of the two sides with the result having once again failed to make their chances pay at Anfield.

Liverpool (4-3-3): Karius; Alexander-Arnold (Gomez, 80'), Lovren, Klavan, Robertson; Wijnaldum (Oxlade-Chamberlain, 76'), Can, Coutinho; Mane (Solanke, 76'), Salah, Firmino

West Brom (4-3-3): Foster; Nyom, Hegazi, Evans, Gibbs; Livermore, Yacob, Krychowiak (Brunt, 79'); Robson-Kanu (Rodriguez, 71'), Rondon, McClean

Read Next:
Klopp to rest Salah against West Brom?
>

Subscribe to our Newsletter


Transfer Talk Daily
Match previews - twice weekly
Morning Briefing (7am UTC)
Get the latest transfer news, match previews and news direct to your inbox!
You May Like
Recommended Next on SM
Klopp to rest Salah against West Brom?
Liverpool 'will not pay Van Dijk asking price'
Conte wants end to speculation over future
Suarez welcomes Coutinho, Griezmann interest
Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Manchester CityMan City18171056124452
2Manchester UnitedMan Utd18132339122741
3Chelsea18122432141838
4Liverpool1897238201834
5Arsenal18103531201133
6Burnley189541612432
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1894531181331
8Leicester CityLeicester187562726126
9Watford186482733-622
10Everton176472129-822
11Huddersfield TownHuddersfield186391630-1421
12Southampton184681724-718
13Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton184681423-918
14Crystal Palace184591528-1317
15West Ham UnitedWest Ham184591732-1517
16Bournemouth1844101524-916
17Stoke CityStoke1844101939-2016
18Newcastle UnitedNewcastle1843111627-1115
19West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom182881324-1114
20Swansea CitySwansea173311922-1312
Scroll for more - Tap for full version

Subscribe to our Newsletter


Transfer Talk Daily
Match previews - twice weekly
Morning Briefing (7am UTC)
Get the latest transfer news, match previews and news direct to your inbox!
Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Manchester CityMan City18171056124452
2Manchester UnitedMan Utd18132339122741
3Chelsea18122432141838
4Liverpool1897238201834
5Arsenal18103531201133
6Burnley189541612432
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1894531181331
8Leicester CityLeicester187562726126
9Watford186482733-622
10Everton176472129-822
11Huddersfield TownHuddersfield186391630-1421
12Southampton184681724-718
13Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton184681423-918
14Crystal Palace184591528-1317
15West Ham UnitedWest Ham184591732-1517
16Bournemouth1844101524-916
17Stoke CityStoke1844101939-2016
18Newcastle UnitedNewcastle1843111627-1115
19West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom182881324-1114
20Swansea CitySwansea173311922-1312
Scroll for more - Tap for full version

Login, I already have my ad-free pass
Log in with Facebook to customise Sports Mole
Buy ad-free access (show me the options)
Buy monthly ad-free access for £1.20/month
Buy yearly ad-free access for £12 (2 months free)
Settings - Logout - Manage your account
Settings - Logout - Manage your account
This site uses cookies for Analytics. Click to accept and dismiss this message.