Liverpool went to the Hawthorns and were pegged back by the basement team West Bromwich Albion, as the game ended in a 2-2 draw.
Danny Ings and Mo Salah gave the Reds a comfortable 2-0 lead, but goals from Jake Livermore and Solomon Rondon gave Jurgen Klopp’s boys a rude reality check.
Starting XIs
West Bromwich Albion: Ben Foster, Allan Nyom, Craig Dawson, Ahmed Hegazi, Kieran Gibbs, Jake Livermore, Chris Brunt, Matt Phillips, James McClean, Solomon Rondon, Jay Rodriguez
Liverpool: Loris Karius, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk, Ragnar Klavan, Alberto Moreno, Jordan Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum, James Milner, Mo Salah, Sadio Mané, Danny Ings
The game got off to a positive start from the Reds, led by James Milner, typified by a string of early corners.
From one of those on the left wing, Sadio Mané played it short to Milner, before receiving the return pass, and beautifully jinking past the West Brom defender. His cross into the box was met by the foot of Gini Wijnaldum, whose touch fell beautifully into the path of Danny Ings, for the Englishman to lash home his first goal since the Merseyside Derby in October 2015.
The Reds settled into their stride easily after that, and Salah was up to his usual tricks on the right flank. He received the ball brilliantly on the right side, and turned Hegazi in the same motion.
His left-footed shot was heading for the far corner, but Livermore’s stud was in the way deflecting the ball high.
Ings had a chance soon after from Milner’s cross, but his header went high.
Then West Brom had a spell of pressure of their own, as they forced a succession of corners, but they really couldn’t do much with any of those, as there was no Baggies man getting on the end of any of those crosses.
Ings then had a golden opportunity to score his second goal of the game, as he was set up by Salah. But he took an extra touch, and Foster was quick to close down his left-footed effort, as the sides went into half-time with the Reds in the lead.
Ahmed Hegazi should’ve got sent off early in the second half for a slap on Danny Ings, but referee Stuart Attwell made one of his typical terrible decisions of the day, as he let the Egyptian go unpunished.
Ragnar Klavan’s mistake almost let McClean in, and Matt Phillips had a chance he skewed wide as the Baggies built up the pressure on the Reds.
But Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain picked the ball up in midfield and played a peach of a pass to Salah, whose left-footed finish over the ‘keeper gave him his 41st goal of the season.
With 31 goals in the league this season, Salah equalled the all-time record for a 38-game Premier League season.
That was when the Reds took their foot off the pedal, and they were made to pay for their mistake.
Jake Livermore pounced on a Loris Karius save to sweep home a Baggies lifeline from close range. But, Livermore might have been offside (see Attwell, Stewart).
The second goal also came off a debatable refereeing decision, with Attwell judging Henderson to have fouled Oliver Burke. The free-kick was headed home by Rondon, as the Reds had another meltdown at the back.
In the end, it was a game the Reds should’ve won, and they have only themselves to blame… themselves and Stuart Attwell.
Very disappointed with the draw . Klopp and Liverpool fans should be worried that the team is not playing its naturally free flowing football but rather instead are concentrating on giving Mo chances to score . If they don’t revert back to their natural game it could cost us dearly against Roma and also 4th place in the table . Yes we all want Salah to finish top and break records , but not at the expense of the bigger picture . Stop the focus on Salah and start playing for eachother again !