West Ham could be without one of their top goalscorers against ‘title-challengers’ Liverpool, with David Moyes casting doubt over the availability of Jarrod Bowen.
Jurgen Klopp made 11 changes to his team on Thursday and Moyes nine as both Liverpool and West Ham needed to muster a comeback in Europe.
Both had to comeback from 1-0 down, with Liverpool scoring three second-half goals to inflict defeat on LASK, the Hammers did the same against Backa Topola – resulting in respective 3-1 wins.
But while the Reds had the earlier kick-off and travelled to Austria, West Ham hosted a later kick-off, leaving less than 66 hours between the last whistle in Europe and the first at Anfield.
And after sitting out of their first group game, Moyes cast doubt over the availability of Bowen, saying in his press conference: “Jarrod Bowen has had a virus, so we’ll need to see how he is.
“But the others, we seem okay. Aaron Cresswell felt his hamstring last night so we’ll see how he is today, but otherwise, we’re okay.”
Though, we still expect Bowen, who has scored three and assisted one this season, to play his part at Anfield – players in doubt always have miraculous recoveries when heading to Anfield!
Jurgen Klopp will not hold a pre-match press conference and offer his own squad update, but Moyes talked up the challenge that awaits the Hammers in his on Friday.
“They can challenge for the title,” Moyes said of the Reds. “People say we’ve made a good start to the season, but Liverpool definitely have as well.
“They’ve won all their games and they’re introducing new players into their squad. From a distance, they look like they’re getting back into their best form.”
He even made sure to note: “I finished above Liverpool a couple of times as Everton manager and got a few good draws too” – we won’t mention the 24 defeats…
