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Premier League | Gameweek 35

Apr 27, 2024 at 12.30pm UK

London Stadium

West Ham
2 - 2
Liverpool

Bowen (43'), Antonio (77')

FT(HT: 1-0)

Robertson (48'), Areola (65' og.)
Endo (30'), Mac Allister (90+5')

David Moyes denies targeting apparent Liverpool weakness in draw at London Stadium

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 27 April 2024

West Ham United manager David Moyes insists that his side did not specifically target Liverpool's aerial defensive capabilities in their 2-2 draw at the London Stadium.

West Ham United manager David Moyes has insisted that his side did not specifically target any aerial weaknesses in Liverpool's defence during their 2-2 draw at the London Stadium this afternoon.

Jarrod Bowen opened the scoring for the hosts with a header from a corner in the closing stages of the first half, before Michail Antonio's 77th-minute equaliser also came via the aerial route as he shook off Jarell Quansah to nod home.

The goals raised questions about Liverpool's recent record of defending aerial deliveries into the box, having suffered via that avenue of attack in the Merseyside derby defeat on Wednesday night.

On that occasion, Dominic Calvert-Lewin in particular dominated Liverpool's two centre-backs in the air, while most of Everton's corners were met by a blue shirt first.

West Ham celebrate scoring against Liverpool on April 26, 2024 © Reuters

No plan to target Liverpool at set pieces

However, Moyes denied that it was a targeted area of attack for his side at the London Stadium, instead drawing attention to their relatively poor record defending set pieces themselves in past games against Jurgen Klopp's men.

"No, I think there was a lot taken about the derby because they lost a couple of goals from set pieces, but Everton are so good at them. They've got those big players, so you can expect them to do that, whether it be against Liverpool or anyone else," Moyes told Sports Mole at the post-match press conference.

"Van Dijk's probably the biggest and strongest there is in the league just about as far as defending set pieces. We've always had a problem - today we had a problem - trying to stop them scoring from set pieces, and in the end we couldn't and we conceded one from a set piece.

"The last couple of games we've conceded from set pieces with them because of Van Dijk's strength and power. We didn't necessarily make a plan to score from set pieces. We hoped we would, but it wasn't our biggest job today."

The result left West Ham eighth in the Premier League table, while Liverpool remain third with their fast-decreasing title hopes suffering another major blow.