Liverpool's title hopes suffered a huge setback, as they were held to a 2-2 draw by West Ham United at the London Stadium this afternoon.
The Hammers took the lead through Jarrod Bowen just before the interval, but the Reds came flying out the blocks to turn the tide early in the second period with an Andrew Robertson equaliser and an own goal by Alphonse Areola.
However, despite Liverpool's dominance, David Moyes's side hung in the tie and dealt a crucial blow to the Reds' title charge as Michail Antonio found the back of the net late in the day.
Following their painful 2-0 defeat in the Merseyside derby in midweek, Liverpool entered Saturday's lunchtime kickoff needing to win all of their remaining games to have a chance of claiming the league title. West Ham, on the other hand, started the day in eighth place with 48 points and still in the running to qualify for Europe this season.
Jurgen Klopp has been regularly rotating his squad during the title race run-in this season and opted for five changes this afternoon after making six apiece against Fulham and Everton in their last two games.
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Liverpool dominating from the off
Liverpool began the match on the front foot, dominating both possession and territory and dictating the pace of the game, while West Ham were seemingly happy sitting off and set up to play on the counter.
The first real chance of the game fell to the Reds 10 minutes into the match from a left-wing cross, which Cody Gakpo failed to connect properly with, but the ball dropped nicely to Harvey Elliot, who fired a powerful shot at goal but was only able to find the side-netting from a fairly tight angle.
West Ham's game plan became evident five minutes later when a loose pass from Elliot was intercepted by Bowen close to the halfway line. The Hammers' attacker forced his way into a shooting position and produced a powerful low shot toward goal, although it was straight at Alisson Becker, who made easy work to keep it out.
By the halfway point of the first half, the visitors had seen 72% of possession and got their first set-piece of the match from 25 yards out. Trent Alexander-Arnold stepped up to take the free-kick but was unable to replicate his recent goal against Fulham this time, firing his shot over the crossbar and into the stands.
As the half-hour mark approached, Liverpool thought they had a penalty when Luis Diaz got in behind the Hammers' defence and had his shot blocked by Kurt Zouma's hand before Gakpo was brought down in the box by Areola. Anthony Taylor pointed to the penalty spot initially, but after an over two-minute VAR check for what looked a fairly straightforward call, the decision was overturned with Diaz adjudged to have been offside.
West Ham were disciplined out of possession for the majority of the half, while finishing seemed to prove problematic again for Liverpool, who had 11 attempts at goal at that stage, but only two of those were on target.
The Reds were then made to pay for their wastefulness moments before the break when they lost possession in their defensive third and Bowen drew a fine save from Alisson. However, the resulting corner from Mohammed Kudus found Bowen and the England international directed his header into the back of the net from the centre of the box, marking his 20th goal of the season, including 16 in the Premier League.
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Liverpool needed a complete 180-degree turnaround after the break in order to remain in the hunt for the league title, and they made the perfect start in the second period as Diaz, who was arguably their best player in the first 45, picked out Robertson in the opposing box. The left-back got a shot off that bounced into the net off the post, with Areola failing to get enough on the attempted save to steer it wide.
The half-time team talk seemed to have done wonders for the Reds, who were carving out chances almost with ease and should have taken the lead on a couple of occasions leading up to the hour mark. Ryan Gravenberch squandered a golden opportunity with a miskick from six yards out in the 51st minute, while Gakpo found himself perfectly placed to score in the centre of the box just three minutes later but saw his attempt blocked by Angelo Ogbonna.
West Ham were doing their best to hang on as the visitors continued to pile on the pressure into the final 30 minutes, but they were unable to keep the scores level for too long. The hosts failed to clear an Alexander-Arnold corner five minutes after the hour, which fell to Gakpo, whose mis-hit effort ricocheted off Ogbonna, then off Tomas Soucek and Areola, before crossing the Hammers goal line.
As West Ham looked to try and push forward in search of an equaliser, Klopp's men were finding spaces in behind, and by the 75th minute of the match, the visitors had recorded 23 efforts on goal, although they were still only a goal up.
Liverpool title hopes fade as Antonio finds equaliser
Bowen was almost anonymous after finding the first goal but proved to be the difference-maker for the Hammers yet again, delivering a pin-point short cross between two Liverpool defenders that found Antonio, and the striker took the chance with aplomb to pull his side level in the tie, setting up a grandstand finish in the process.
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In a frantic last five minutes, the visitors were throwing everything into attack while the Hammers were getting everyone behind the ball.
With just one minute of regulation time remaining, Liverpool cleared a James Ward-Prowse corner which found its way to Mohamed Salah, who flew upfield and tried to pick out Darwin Nunez on the edge of the box but the pass was just behind the Uruguayan. Elliot, though, managed to pick it up, but his dipping shot hit the crossbar on its way out of play.
West Ham dug in during stoppage time and claimed a valuable point, while Liverpool have now won just one of their last five league games and will need a huge slice of luck to overtake Arsenal and Manchester City for the title.
The Reds are now on 75 points but remain in third place, two points behind Arsenal and one behind Man City. They have also played a game more than the Gunners and two more than the Citizens.
West Ham are in eighth place with 49 points after 35 matches and will take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge next Sunday.
Barney Corkhill
