Jurgen Klopp has warned his Liverpool team to ‘be prepared’ for the set piece threat West Ham can pose when the two sides meet in the Premier League on Wednesday night.
The Reds travel to the London Stadium off the back of seven points from their last three games, although they conceded twice from moves stemming from throw-ins during Saturday’s 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s game, the German highlighted the Irons’ ability to punish opponents from set plays.
He said (via Liverpool Echo): “West Ham is a top, top, top set piece team as well. We have to be prepared for that again. The ball will be on the ground from time to time so we have to be ready for that.”
Liverpool have frequently used dead ball situations to their advantage – as per WhoScored, they’re the Premier League’s joint-top scorers from set pieces along with Tottenham (14).
That trait was in evidence last weekend, when all three of their goals against Forest came from either corners or free kicks, although the manner in which Steve Cooper’s side tormented the Reds from throw-ins will have plagued Klopp ever since.
West Ham made good use of set plays in their last match as well, twice scoring off corner kicks during their 4-0 thrashing of Bournemouth on Sunday.
That also happened the last time Liverpool played at the London Stadium, when two of the Hammers’ goals came from corners in a 3-2 win for David Moyes’ side in November 2021.
Klopp will be well aware of the threat that a resurgent Michail Antonio can pose in the air, having scored with his head in both of the Irons’ wins over the past week.
The Reds boss knows that West Ham can be a danger in this regard – the crucial thing will be to implement and execute a plan to deal with it so that our recent resurgence isn’t halted by a team who’ve also shown improved form this month.
You can view Jurgen’s press conference in full below, via Liverpool FC on YouTube: