Liverpool v West Ham live: Latest team news and line-ups from Premier League clash – UK Times

Nuno Espirito Santo makes no changes to the West Ham side that drew with Bournemouth last weekend, with Taty Castellanos again leading the line.

West Ham XI: Hermansen; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Disasi, Diouf; Soucek, Magassa, Fernandes; Bowen, Castellanos, Summerville.

Arne Slot resists the temptation to give young Rio Ngumoha a start in a familiar looking Liverpool team.

Liverpool XI: Alisson; Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Ekitike, Gakpo.

Righty, then, let’s get going – team news will soon be with us from Anfield, and Liverpool are without Florian Wirtz for certain…

Tottenham’s plight plays in to a wider point, Miguel Delaney argues, about the competitiveness of the Premier League, which has arguably never been greater:

Tottenham are another team looking ahead to a Champions League knockout tie – but also peering over their shoulder at their relegation rivals. Miguel Delaney explores their situation, and what might come next:

From a continental competition point of view, Liverpool found out their Champions League round of 16 fate yesterday as their possible path to the final became clear:

It’s an intriguing day of action in the Premier League, with a slightly slimmed down schedule after some European fixtures in midweek. Bournemouth and Sunderland are already underway on the south coast – a long trip for the away fans, that – while this is the rest of Saturday’s offerings:

Liverpool vs West Ham (3pm)

Newcastle vs Everton (3pm)

Burnley vs Brentford (3pm)

Leeds vs Manchester City (5.30pm)

West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen has also sent an emphatic message to his teammates ahead of a chance to climb out of the bottom three.

“We’ve all got to continue stepping up, that’s the situation that we find ourselves in,” said Bowen. “We know outside noise happens and, I think it’s individually, for one, how you deal with that, but certainly as a group we can take criticism from each other and I think it’s an important time to be criticising each other.

“In the situation that we’re in, we need everyone pointing fingers and people to accept that responsibility, which we’re doing. I think we’ve seen a change certainly in the last few weeks.

“It’s not easy, don’t get me wrong. It’s not easy, and that’s not an excuse, because this is where we find ourselves from what we’ve done at the start of the season, so now we have to fight our way out of it, and we’ve certainly got enough, not just talking about quality, but talking about characters and people who are grabbing each other by the scruff of the neck when times are tough.”

Nuno Espirito Santo has fired a warning to West Ham’s relegation rivals Nottingham Forest and Tottenham by declaring his side are back “in the fight”.

The Hammers looked consigned to the drop just last month when they slipped seven points from safety.

But a run of just one defeat in six has seen them move to within two points of Forest and four behind free-falling Spurs.

They could even climb out of the bottom three before their rivals play on Sunday if they overcome Liverpool at Anfield today.

“We know it’s going to be tough. Going to Anfield is always tough, but at the same time a big challenge for us,” Nuno said.

“We are going to face a fantastic team full of talented players that only can bring the best out of us.

“This is what our major motivation is and to realise that we have to keep chasing, chasing, chasing.

“It’s the reality. It’s been that for some while now. We are in the fight.”

Mohamed Salah could be a fascinating figure in the selection shake-up, too, for Arne Slot. Richard Jolly feels a changing of the guard is surely coming…