West Ham damages Liverpool's dwindling title hopes
Liverpool suffered another blow to its dwindling Premier League title hopes as Michail Antonio's late header snatched a 2-2 draw for West Ham United at London Stadium.
Jurgen Klopp's side disappointed in last week's 2-0 defeat against Everton in the Merseyside derby, with Jarrod Bowen's goal and assist inflicting further pain for the Reds in London.
Liverpool responded well to Bowen's first-half opener, edging ahead through Alphonse Areola's own goal after Andy Robertson's 48th-minute leveller, only for Bowen to tee up Antonio's headed equaliser 13 minutes from time.
The draw leaves Liverpool two points behind leader Arsenal ahead of the Gunners’ derby meeting with Tottenham Hotspur on Monday (AEST) and one behind Manchester City, which has two games in hand on the Reds. West Ham remains in eighth.
A tepid opening befitted two sides struggling for form as both failed to carve out any gilt-edged opportunities.
Liverpool wanted a 27th-minute penalty for Angelo Ogbonna's tackle on Cody Gakpo and, though an offside call against Luis Diaz silenced those appeals, that passage livened the game up.
Harvey Elliott's curling attempt was held by Areola after Vladimir Coufal went close at the other end, before Diaz blasted a low strike against the West Ham goalkeeper's right-hand post.
Bowen saw a deflected drive parried behind by Alisson but the West Ham forward headed Mohammed Kudus's left-wing delivery into the far corner from the resulting set-piece two minutes before the break.
Ryan Gravenberch flashed a powerful half-volley over immediately after the interval and West Ham did not heed that warning sign.
Diaz cut inside from the left to find Robertson before a slight deflection off Lucas Paqueta saw Areola caught off-guard as the left-back found the bottom-left corner via the post.
Gravenberch arrowed narrowly wide before one-way traffic finally paid dividends midway through the second half when Gakpo's miscued strike from Trent Alexander-Arnold's corner forced Areola to turn into his own net after a deflection off Tomas Soucek.
Alisson kept his side ahead with a remarkable stretching stop to thwart Emerson's volley, yet the Liverpool goalkeeper was powerless when Antonio headed into the top-right corner from Bowen's right-wing centre.
Elliott almost snatched all three points in the 89th minute but his dipping effort found the top of the crossbar rather than the right-hand corner from long range.
Under Klopp, Liverpool has only won more Premier League games against Crystal Palace (13) than West Ham (12).
Yet the visiting Reds faltered once more as what appeared to be a promising season continues to unravel in disappointing fashion for Klopp's farewell campaign.
Having threatened an unlikely quadruple at the start of March, Liverpool now requires a minor miracle – and slip-ups from City and Arsenal – to muster even a slight shot at the title.
