Goals: 43. Jarrod Bowen, 77. Michail Antonio – 48. Andrew Robertson, 65. Alphonse Areola (left)
West Ham drew 2-2 at home with Liverpool in the 35th round of the Premier League. The teams have played each other twice already this season and on both occasions the Reds were happy despite conceding a goal from Jarrod Bowen. He made his mark this time as well, when he opened the scoring with an accurate header just before the break. After returning from the cabins, however, the guests ruled the field, and they took advantage of a turnover from two scrums inside the box, while the second goal was officially recognized for a while as Tomáš Souček’s own. At that moment, the favorite would have caught up with the leader Arsenal in the table, but in the 77th minute, Michail Antonio scored after Bowen’s excellent cross from the right side, on which Vladimír Coufal was also operating.
The Reds had a chance to catch up with the leaders Arsenal in Wednesday’s play-off, but after almost 14 years they fell at Goodison Park and their chances of the coveted title decreased again with the third loss in the last five duels. They could stay in the fight for the trophy against West Ham, on whose field they dominated five of the previous seven matches.
The Liverpool players got over their initial nervousness and started to push their opponent this time as well. Harvey Elliott got an interesting finish, but he only directed the dropped ball into the side net. After half an hour of the game, on the other side, Coufal leaned into a deflected ball, whose dotted projectile into the left part of the goal thoroughly tested the attention of Alisson. Before the break, Luis Díaz still had time to clear the post, and he shot over the two shielding Czech fighters in the West Ham jersey. A moment later, however, the home sniper Bowen took the floor, whose first shot was deflected by the Brazilian guard at the last moment for a corner, but after that the Englishman, despite his short stature, made his way with an accurate header.
However, the Reds didn’t take long to respond when, in the 48th minute, Andrew Robertson promptly finished off the left post. The visitors completely dominated in the second half, but the decisive goal did not come for a long time from a large number of chances. The Reds’ unproductive offensive had to be helped by the opponent, when after a few random bounces in their own penalty area, after a corner kick, the ball reached Souček, who directed it to Alphonse Areola, from whom it bounced into his own net. The experienced goalkeeper made up for the hesitation right away when he was waiting for Díaz’s technical shot. The score was tied in the 77th minute with a precise header by Antonio, who took advantage of Bowen’s millimeter cross. In the end, the well-played Coufal scored an important save, who prevented a clear goal scoring opportunity for substitute Mohamed Salah in the slide.
So West Ham surprised Liverpool and put another stop sign in the title race. The Hammers face Chelsea in the next round on May 5, while the Reds welcome Tottenham on the same day.
