Liverpool – West Ham United

Very motivated opponents will exchange goals

At "Anfield" on Saturday, two clubs with the highest motivation to climb the table will meet. Moreover, Liverpool and West Ham are currently united by an equally unenviable position, roughly equidistant from their season objectives. For the Merseyside club, after a sharp phase of playing crisis these objectives shifted from defending the championship title and dominance on the European stage toward finishing in the Champions League places. Even such a target for Liverpool currently seems hard to achieve, as Chelsea and Manchester United show a decent level of football and pursue the same goals. Over the last 14 months, West Ham has changed the coaching staff twice. After finishing 14th in last season's Premier League, the club appointed Graham Potter as manager of the Hammers, but he was dismissed due to unsatisfactory results already in September 2025. Now the puzzle of the London club's game is being assembled by Nuno Espírito Santo, who had previously delivered two successful projects in the Premier League: Wolverhampton and Nottingham Forest. Recently the Portuguese coach has been doing well, but West Ham remains in the relegation zone. Therefore, Liverpool's task in the upcoming match looks quite difficult. Bookmakers have named the home side the favourites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 1.40 on their victory. Liverpool avoided playing in the Champions League playoff round, which gives them the opportunity to spend the whole week preparing calmly for the match against West Ham United. At the same time, the same opportunity before the clash with Nottingham Forest did not lead to an easy win for the Reds. The Forest, being in the same part of the table as West Ham, had to score the decisive goal in the 90+7th minute of the match. Easy wins for Liverpool are not rare nowadays, but hard matches occur much more often. West Ham still needs to erase a deficit of just two points to Nottingham Forest to escape the relegation zone. The team has not left the Premier League since 2012, and the 200 million euros spent on strengthening the squad this season testifies to the Hammers' lack of plans to return to the Championship. The visitors will give the favourites a fight and exchange goals with them.