Writer’s Predictions - West Ham v Liverpool

West Ham United welcome Liverpool to London Stadium after last week’s triumphant win against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Confidence is high, after a well-fought victory over the team in second; hopefully this bodes well for Sunday’s match with third-placed Liverpool.

Recent fixtures with Liverpool should inspire confidence. Despite what the Premier League table might suggest, this is a very winnable game for West Ham.

The most memorable match between the two sides came in the 2006 FA Cup Final, where the Hammers lost a heartbreaking penalty shootout. I still can’t look at Steven Gerrard’s face without feeling small pangs of anger.

A major turning point in the fixture came in August 2015 when West Ham beat Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield. The first time the Hammers had won there since September 1963. The papers loved this and filled their pages with colourful facts about life the last time the Irons were victorious at Wembley. For the sake of nostalgia let’s recap three of my favourite facts:

• John F. Kennedy was still president [barely]
• Respective managers Brendan Rodgers and Slaven Bilic hadn’t been born
• The average house price was £3,160 - now it’s much much more

Despite the lop-sided nature of the fixture at Anfield, the head to head between the sides gives the advantage to West Ham. The Hammers have three wins in their last six encounters with Liverpool.

There is enough to suggest that the Hammers could do the job.

Let’s get into the writer’s prediction league where things are heating up with just two games to go:

We have a tie at the top as Wallace has caught up and takes the top place. On a personal note I hope that we have a clear winner because I’m not entirely sure how a tie break situation would work.

Enough admin, let’s get into this week’s Brace the Hammer predictions. We’re starting with Pete for his weekly dig at Andy Carroll:

Pete Schlenker (The Artist Formerly Known as HammerPete)

1-1 draw with Jonathan Calleri finally scoring a goal.

After a good showing against Tottenham Hotspur, the team will be flying high. West Ham drew against Liverpool at Anfield earlier in the season after a brilliant save and a blunder from Darren Randolph, and with Liverpool looking to stay in the top four, they are very likely to stub their collective toes in the London Stadium.

While a West Ham victory is probably unlikely, let's not get crazy here, a good result like a 1 all draw is very likely with Liverpool ruing losing out on two points that could help them propel them into the top four and the Champions League. Oh, and if they could drop off a few quid and take Andy Carroll back with them, that'd be great too.

Charlie Walsh

I'm a bit scared for this one. Liverpool's high press can be super effective going forward but does leave them vulnerable at the back. Problem is, we aren't too good at putting the ball into the opponent's net regardless so I doubt they'll be too concerned. We do look solid defensively but will we score?

Doubt it honestly. I'm going with my head for once, 0-0.

Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Tom Atherton

Finally, after what has been one of the most up and down seasons in our club’s recent history we pulled out the mother of all wins, two years in a row to stop our noisy neighbours from winning the title.

Liverpool are a poor team without Sadio Mane and are they are there for the taking this weekend if we produce a similar display to what we saw against Spurs.

West Ham 2-1 Liverpool

Wallace Milner

West Ham are coming off a stunning win against Tottenham. Liverpool have struggled against lower table teams this season. This seems set up for an upset. West Ham 2-1 Liverpool

Jonathan Liebling

As one of the few 'experts' who correctly predicted a West Ham victory over Spurs, I feel a great sense of responsibility in my picks now. No longer shall they be flippant derivatives of my betters, nay, they shall be transcribed into stone and carried down from the mountains for all people to sing!

Hear me, fair citizens, fortune is no longer hiding! The football Gods have spoken and are satisfied with our cockerel sacrifice! Rejoice, for the non believers hailing from the north will soon be walking alone back to Liverpool.

West Ham 2-1 Liverpool

Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Chad Hoy

I wouldn't say West Ham are on a "tear," but they've gone unbeaten in their last five matches (WDDDW) and the way the defense has been (finally) working together I can't see them taking a loss even to Liverpool.

If the fans bring the same atmosphere this Sunday as they did against Spurs last week, it'll be a good match. Think Lanzini will work his big-game magic again and score a brace for a 2-0 win.

Andy Kostka

West Ham 1-1 Liverpool

The Hammers' defense looked good for the third straight week, so I think this one can be a low-scoring affair. West Ham have scored five goals in seven games since the start of April, so I don't think the floodgates will open now.

Brian Tenerowicz

Three straight clean sheets, a huge win over the biggest rival, and a home game against a team who play to the level of their opponents. Gimme 2-0 to the Irons

Geo Mackie

3-1 West Ham

Gerry Physio

0-0 draw

I'll go for a respectable draw; looks like the win will be hard to come by, but 4 clean sheets in row for Adrián? I'd love to see that!!

Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Shourjya Mookerjee

Imma cross my fingers and say 1-1 draw

Jackson Schmidtke

2-2 Draw with Lanzini and Noble scoring for the Hammers. West Ham lead for most of the game but Fonte makes a stupid mistake late in the game to give up the equalizer.

Me!

Here we go. West Ham are going to win this week, I can feel it. Three consecutive clean sheets, unbeaten in five. Things are looking good for the Irons. I feel that we will win but lose the recent clean sheet run. An acceptable sacrifice for victory.

2-1 to West Ham United