Hit F5 to refresh, and email scott.murray@guardian.co.uk21 min: Neill and Tomkins sandwich Torres just to the left of the West Ham box, 25 yards out, the former pushing the Liverpool striker over the latter, like kids do at school. Gerrard takes the free kick, the ball now bouncing down the road to catch the 104 bus.18 min: Ilunga nutmegs Kuyt down the left. That's 1-0 to the West Ham man in the Players Who Had Their Critics At The Start But Have Since Proved Themselves stakes. He immediately loses the ball afterwards, but credit where it's due.15 min: Reina pumps a long ball down the right. Ilunga misjudges the flight, allowing the ball to bounce over him and Kuyt to win a corner. From it, Aurelio has a whack which is blocked, then Torres attempts to recreate the dipping volley he scored against Blackburn a couple of weeks back. He does not recreate the dipping volley he scored against Blackburn a couple of weeks back.13 min: Noble sends a bouncing ball straight down the middle and into the Liverpool box. Tristan helps it on with his head and sends it sailing serenely towards the bottom-right corner, but his compatriot Reina is all over it. "Just to clarify, did you mean Spangles the sweets, rather than the 1980s girlband?" asks Ian Copestake. "If so then I remember them well because they nearly killed me twice through premature swallowage."10 min: West Ham appear to have settled a wee bit. They're seeing much more of the ball - i.e. some of it - and making Liverpool chase around a bit. West Ham should take heart: with Xabi Alonso missing, Liverpool may not have it all their own way in midfield.8 min: Boa Morte, never a man to take things lying down, bustles down the right and gets the better of Aurelio, but upon reaching the byline sends a tame cross into the hands of Reina. That's better from the home side, though.7 min: From the centre, Arbeloa tries to ping Benayoun clear into the area, but his pass is slightly astray and hacked clear by Upson. This is a really confident start by Liverpool. West Ham can't hold onto the ball at all. Perhaps the clock in their dressing room had stopped, 1975-style, and caught them unawares. They certainly don't look ready to play at the moment.5 min: Lucas nods the ball down to Gerrard in the centre circle. Gerrard pings the ball out right to Torres, who is this close to besting Ilunga on the outside and breaking clear on goal. The full back sticks to his task well, though, and manages to hold the striker off.3 min: West Ham are all over the shop here. Torres nearly latches onto a through ball by Lucas, breaking into the box just to the left of goal, but Green is out quickly and gathers before the striker can toe it round him.76 seconds: GOAL!!! West Ham United 0-1 Liverpool. What a start by the away side. Torres slides a beautiful ball down the inside-right channel. The West Ham back line are rooted to the spot as Gerrard breaks onto it from deep - he looks miles offside, but he's well on - and rounds Green on the right before pinging the ball into the empty net.Warm handshakes between Rafael Benitez and Gianfranco Zola on the touchline - does anyone dislike West Ham's manager? - and we're off! Liverpool, playing in their terrible bottle-green away kit, set the ball rolling, in a match they simply have to win.Ashdown's attempt to get you lot to name our new statistics guru ended in abject failure, I see, with no definitive decision made. Typical. Anyway, he'll always be Special Man to me. And here he is! "These are two sides with contrasting figures in recent matches," he writes. "In Liverpool's last 10 games there have been 46 goals scored; in West Ham's last 10 games there have been 13 goals scored." Gotta love Special Man!This report is so gay. In a good way, we're not Chris Moyles. "I don't know the answers to your questions," writes Mac Millings, "but I do know that, by delving into a football team's changing room, you are providing the frisson of homoeroticism that was sadly lacking from John Ashdown's MBMing earlier. You can tell Ashdown that he really puts the 'L' in 'Clockwatch'."Ipswich Hammered, 1975: "There was a robbery that day at the ground," insists Wayne Garvie. "It was Ipswich being robbed of victory. If memory serves me right ref Clive Thomas cancelled out two perfectly good Town goals. Have there been any recent examples of bad refereeing, preferably ones involving teams no one likes?" Can't think of any offhand, Wayne. Can't think of any at all. In other news, the West Ham-Ipswich match was played at Stamford Bridge.West Hammered, 1975: "Those guys look a little spangled to me," suggests Tom Astin, "like they have been partying too hard celebrating their win. They have lost their clothes and managed to knock a hole in the wall since the celebrations began and despite the clock showing 6.50am they are still going to show that they're super-tough east Londoners." You're accusing a knight of the realm, Sir Trev, of going on a 12-hour bender, then trashing a dressing room Led Zep style? A nagging feeling tells me the Guardian should probably distance itself from this one.Referee: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire)Fernando Torres is back, while Mrtn Skrtl cms n fr Dnl Ggr: Reina, Arbeloa, Skrtel, Carragher, Aurelio, Benayoun, Mascherano, Lucas, Gerrard, Kuyt, Torres.Subs: Cavalieri, Dossena, Hyypia, Babel, Insua, Ngog, Degen.This is the same lot who defeated Stoke last week: Green, Neill, Tomkins, Upson, Ilunga, Boa Morte, Noble, Kovac, Stanislas, Di Michele, Tristan.Subs: Lastuvka, Lopez, Nsereko, Spector, Collison, Sears, Payne.In the meantime, perhaps we should ponder the following questions raised by the picture accompanying this report:1. Why are the team using glass cloths for bath towels?2. What's been ripped off the back wall? It can't be a flatscreen television; this is 1975. A safe? West Ham are from the east end of London, after all.3. Does anybody remember Spangles?4. The clock's stopped at 6.48pm. But this was after the semi-final replay against Ipswich, a game that I discovered, after spending perhaps too much time trawling through the Guardian's digital archives for the answer, kicked off at 7.30pm. So how did they know the game was about to start? Were they late for kick off?Kick off: 5.30pm.Liverpool can go back to the top of the table for at least 19 hours if they win this. Or is it 18? Or 20? Not sure. Anyway, back to the top of the table they can go, as they look to win their last three matches of the season and apply some mild pressure to leaders Manchester United, who play tomorrow. West Ham are of course much improved under Gianfranco Zola, but any side with title pretentions should win against a team who struggle to score and have already lost seven times at home in the league this season. And anyway, Liverpool can no longer afford to drop points if they're to retain their extremely slim chance of winning the league. So let's see how this one pans out.West Ham UnitedLiverpoolPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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