20 Dec 2024 22.43 GMT David Moyes speaks to Sky. “Liverpool played very well … we praise them for how🌧️ well they played … obviously we didn’t play well enough … the second goal was the killer, we were beginning🌧️ to grow into the game … we didn’t do particularly well in some areas for the goals … we beat🌧️ Arsenal in the last game and had the hardest draw of all coming to Anfield … we were up against🌧️ a really strong opponent … a tough place to come and so it proved … we still have a little🌧️ bit of illness but we’re not making any excuses … tonight was disappointing … before today we’d won seven out🌧️ of nine in all competitions … we’ve been in good form and that tells you how well Liverpool played today.”
20🌧️ Dec 2024 22.40 GMT The first tie is a repeat of the 1998 final. Chelsea won that 2-0 thanks to🌧️ extra-time goals from Frank Sinclair and Roberto Di Matteo. The other tie is a repeat of a two-legged second-round affair🌧️ in 1986, one that will send a shudder down the spines of Fulham fans of a certain vintage: Liverpool won🌧️ the first leg at Anfield 10-0 – Steve McMahon scoring four, setting up two, and missing a penalty – and🌧️ followed that up with a 3-2 victory at Craven Cottage.
20 Dec 2024 22.31 GMT The semi-final draw Middlesbrough v Chelsea
Liverpool🌧️ v Fulham First leg: week commencing January 8
Second leg: week commencing January 22
20 Dec 2024 22.28 GMT The draw. It’s🌧️ being made by Harry and Jamie Redknapp. Middlesbrough, Fulham, Chelsea and Liverpool are about to discover their fate. The first🌧️ leg of the semis will be played week commencing January 8, with the second legs taking place week commencing January🌧️ 22.
Updated at 22.28 GMT
20 Dec 2024 22.28 GMT Jurgen Klopp speaks to Sky. “It was obviously a really good game🌧️ … plenty of top performances … we were difficult to play … sharp and spot-on from the first second …🌧️ really good football … it’s really important that we can use the squad … everybody on the pitch showed that🌧️ they really wanted to play and win … a top performance from start to finish … it was a joy🌧️ to watch the boys tonight … the not-so-cool part of our life is we have to prepare for Arsenal already!”
20🌧️ Dec 2024 22.18 GMT Pre-draw anticipation. Liverpool have won this competition a record nine times. Chelsea have won it on🌧️ five occasions. Middlesbrough just the once, but they’ve also reached a couple of other finals. This is new ground for🌧️ Fulham, though; they’ve never made it this far before. Richard Hirst is nevertheless looking for history to be his friend:🌧️ “On our way to Wembley in 1975, Fulham won at Everton, so I’m confident. And now that we can’t get🌧️ West Ham in the final…” The Joy of Six: unlikely football heroes Read more
20 Dec 2024 22.04 GMT Tonight’s xG:🌧️ Liverpool 3.16-0.06 West Ham. That shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. The home side had 29 shots to🌧️ West Ham’s two, and 49 touches in the opposition box to the visitors’ five.
20 Dec 2024 21.58 GMT Liverpool and🌧️ Jurgen Klopp celebrate their victory with the usual passion. To a man they were excellent tonight. The 5-1 scoreline doesn’t🌧️ flatter them a bit, and that’ll make up for their stodgy showing against Manchester United. They’ll go into the Arsenal🌧️ game at the weekend in a far better frame of mind. However, as good as Liverpool were, West Ham were🌧️ abysmal, their defence ragged, their attack toothless. The exception that proved the rule: birthday-boy Jarred Bowen’s fantastic goal. You can🌧️ be sure David Moyes will want to avoid Klopp’s side in the Europa League. Liverpool's double goalscorer Curtis Jones is🌧️ congratulated by manager Jurgen Klopp after the final whistle. Photograph: Molly Darlington/Reuters
Updated at 22.05 GMT
20 Dec 2024 21.52 GMT FULL🌧️ TIME: Liverpool 5-1 West Ham United Liverpool join Middlesbrough, Fulham and Chelsea in the semi-finals. Draw to come! Go nowhere!
20🌧️ Dec 2024 21.52 GMT 90 min +4: A long ball nearly finds Ings on the edge of the Liverpool box,🌧️ but Kelleher gets there first. Meanwhile Grant Tennille would like to offer the dictionary definition of “Simulacrummy: West Ham’s attempt🌧️ at imitating a competent defence.”
20 Dec 2024 21.50 GMT 90 min +3: His radar’s off. West Ham clear. But Elliott🌧️ comes back down the right and wins another corner. Alexander-Arnold plays this one short. That routine goes nowhere, too.
20 Dec🌧️ 2024 21.49 GMT 90 min +2: Salah busies himself and wins a corner down the right. Alexander-Arnold ambles across to🌧️ take it.
20 Dec 2024 21.48 GMT 90 min +1: The first of four added minutes. Jamie Carragher names Curtis Jones🌧️ as Sky’s player of the match. Few would quibble.
20 Dec 2024 21.47 GMT 90 min: … but it looks like🌧️ the only thing he’ll add to his stats tonight is a booking. He picks one up for clumsily back-heeling Kehrer🌧️ in the face.
20 Dec 2024 21.46 GMT 89 min: Jones releases Nunez down the left … but the flag goes🌧️ up for offside. Nunez is fuming. Cross with himself. He desperately wants a goal.
20 Dec 2024 21.45 GMT 88 min:🌧️ Elliott tries to get in on the fun but, falling backwards, scoops a weak shot wide left from distance.
20 Dec🌧️ 2024 21.43 GMT 86 min: It’s fair to say David Moyes will now go 21 games at Anfield without a🌧️ victory. He’s raging, by the way. Empurpled. That is not the way a David Moyes side usually defends. “I feel🌧️ that Noel Moline may be writing out the 100 lines himself,” writes Gary Moore. “John Cleese was surely wearing a🌧️ tunic, not a toga.”
20 Dec 2024 21.41 GMT GOAL! Liverpool 5-1 West Ham United (Jones 84) Jones picks up possession🌧️ on the halfway line. He dribbles down the inside-left channel. Suddenly West Ham’s defence opens up generously. He drifts into🌧️ the middle, into the box, a little right of centre, then dinks across Areola and into the bottom left. What🌧️ a run! What appalling defending! A tidy finish from Curtis Jones gives him his second goal of the night and🌧️ Liverpool their fifth. Photograph: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC/Getty Images Jones celebrates in style. Photograph: Molly Darlington/Reuters The Liverpool fans are pretty🌧️ happy too. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
Updated at 22.02 GMT
20 Dec 2024 21.39 GMT GOAL! Liverpool 4-1 West Ham United (Salah 82)🌧️ You can’t keep a good man down. Salah, having just squirted wide of an open goal, is sent clear down🌧️ the middle, West Ham having committed everyone to a futile attack. Salah reaches the edge of the box, draws Areola,🌧️ and rolls a shot across the keeper and into the bottom right. Liverpool's Mohamed Salah scores their fourth goal. Photograph:🌧️ Molly Darlington/Reuters Then celebrates. Photograph: Molly Darlington/Reuters
Updated at 21.44 GMT
20 Dec 2024 21.38 GMT 81 min: Nunez comes barrelling in🌧️ from the left. He reaches the edge of the D before thrashing a low drive across Areola … and off🌧️ the base of the right-hand post. The ball pings back to Salah, who can’t adjust his body to steer the🌧️ rebound into the net. Wide left. How did that stay out?!
20 Dec 2024 21.35 GMT 78 min: That’s a lovely🌧️ birthday present for Bowen, who is 27 today. Gakpo is replaced by Diaz. The game restarts and Gomez storms down🌧️ the inside-left channel before taking a shot. It’s a decent effort, but well held by Areola. That senior goal remains🌧️ elusive.
20 Dec 2024 21.34 GMT GOAL! Liverpool 3-1 West Ham United (Bowen 77) This is a brilliant goal. Johnson sends🌧️ a speculative ball down the left. Bowen gets ahead of Quansah, turns the young defender just inside the box, and🌧️ curls a glorious shot across Kelleher and into the top right. What a finish!
20 Dec 2024 21.32 GMT 75 min:🌧️ Liverpool ping it around. Bradley, who has looked lively since coming on, wins a corner down the right. It leads🌧️ to a brief game of pinball in the West Ham six-yard box, but nothing drops to a home shirt and🌧️ the visitors can clear their lines.
20 Dec 2024 21.31 GMT 74 min: This scoreline doesn’t flatter Liverpool at all. They🌧️ look in the mood for more, as well. West Ham continue to struggle to retain possession. Meanwhile here’s Noel Moline:🌧️ “Where’s John Cleese dressed in a toga when you need him, to tell Paul Griffin ‘Simulacra is plural, simulacrum is🌧️ singular. Now, write it out 100 times.’”
20 Dec 2024 21.29 GMT GOAL! Liverpool 3-0 West Ham United (Gakpo 71) Ogbonna🌧️ and Soucek leave a loose ball to each other. Konate nips in and steals off with it and feeds Gakpo,🌧️ who threads a shot into the bottom left from the edge of the D. Simple as that. Game over, surely.🌧️ Cody Gakpo makes it three. Photograph: Paul Greenwood/Shutterstock
Updated at 21.37 GMT
20 Dec 2024 21.28 GMT 71 min: West Ham take🌧️ a quick throw down the right. Kudus strides towards the box and sends a screamer inches over the bar. Kelleher🌧️ probably had it covered. It’s West Ham’s first effort at goal.
20 Dec 2024 21.26 GMT 70 min: Bradley’s very first🌧️ contribution is to cushion Alexander-Arnold’s long diagonal pass into Salah’s path down the inside-right channel. It’s an exquisite touch, and🌧️ worthy of an assist. Sadly Salah slices wildly into the Kop. That would have been a picture-book goal.
20 Dec 2024🌧️ 21.25 GMT 68 min: The young right-back Bradley replaces Tsimikas. Gomez comes across to the left of Liverpool’s defence.
20 Dec🌧️ 2024 21.23 GMT 66 min: That Curtis Jones goal was Liverpool’s 500th in this tournament. Only Aston Villa, with 514,🌧️ have scored more. You can thank Sky Sports for that one.
20 Dec 2024 21.22 GMT 65 min: Nunez dribbles at🌧️ slow speed down the left but still wins a corner through sheer persistence. It’s all for nought, though, because Tsimikas’s🌧️ set-piece delivery is off-whack. “It’s alright this game,” begins Paul Griffin. “Lovely, open, and there’s a nice contrast between the🌧️ home side’s youthful energy and their opponent’s increasingly desperate resolution. However, it is entirely lacking regular pauses to watch some🌧️ barely competent men in Hillingdon draw wobbly, grandiose lines on a low resolution screen, so it’s a poor simulation of🌧️ the real thing as far as I am concerned. Whoever wins will know it’s a mere simulacra of a victory.”
20🌧️ Dec 2024 21.20 GMT 63 min: … the ball’s worked from Alexander-Arnold on the right, to Tsimikas on the left,🌧️ then back again. Alexander-Arnold hits a cross-cum-shot through a crowded box. Nunez lunges but can’t connect and the ball bobbles🌧️ wide left.
20 Dec 2024 21.19 GMT 62 min: Liverpool pour forward at speed. Quansah strides out from the back. Gakpo🌧️ finds Salah, who feeds Elliott into the box from the right. Elliott tries to nutmeg Areola from a tight angle🌧️ and is forced to settle for a corner. From which …
20 Dec 2024 21.15 GMT 58 min: Fornals swings a🌧️ cross in from the left. Kelleher comes way off his line to punch clear spectacularly. Liverpool counter through Jones, who🌧️ looks for the top right this time. Always wide, always high.
20 Dec 2024 21.15 GMT 57 min: That was a🌧️ fine goal from the perspective of Liverpool and Jones; not so good from Areola’s perspective. Beaten at his near post.🌧️ Paqueta comes on for Benrahma.
20 Dec 2024 21.14 GMT GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 West Ham United (Jones 56) Liverpool have been🌧️ hammering on the door, and they get their reward. Jones plays a ball round the corner, down the left for🌧️ Nunez. He keeps on running for the box, and gets the ball back. There’s nobody in the middle, so he🌧️ has a whack from a tight angle. He blasts the ball straight through Areola, across the face of goal and🌧️ into the bottom right! Curtis Jones slots the ball through the legs of Alphonse Areola to double Liverpool’s lead. Photograph:🌧️ Michael Regan/Getty Images Curtis Jones celebrates his goal. Photograph: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC/Getty Images Whilst West Ham United’s Konstantinos Mavropanos looks🌧️ dejected. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
Updated at 21.31 GMT
20 Dec 2024 21.12 GMT 55 min: Nunez has a crack from out left.🌧️ His drive smacks straight into Gakpo.
20 Dec 2024 21.11 GMT 54 min: Gakpo clears the corner with an authoritative header.🌧️ But that’s better from West Ham, who despite taking a territorial hammering are only one goal behind. A reminder to🌧️ Liverpool that the tie is far from over.
20 Dec 2024 21.10 GMT 53 min: Johnson sashays down the left and🌧️ rolls a pass down the flank for Bowen, who enters the box and crosses low. Tsimikas is forced to poke🌧️ behind for a corner with Soucek lurking behind him.
20 Dec 2024 21.09 GMT 52 min: Alvarez slides in late on🌧️ Elliott, catching him on the ankle. Not the worst challenge, not the best. The yellow card he gets seems about🌧️ right.
20 Dec 2024 21.07 GMT 50 min: Another wave of Liverpool attack. Jones takes a shot from the left-hand edge🌧️ of the D. That one bobbles harmlessly wide right; the keeper had it covered.
20 Dec 2024 21.05 GMT 49 min:🌧️ Liverpool quickly come back at West Ham. Nunez makes his way into the box from the left and sends a🌧️ rising shot towards the top left. Areola turns it around for another corner; nothing comes of that one either.
20 Dec🌧️ 2024 21.05 GMT 47 min: Jones comes in from the left and shoots. It’s deflected out for a corner, which🌧️ Liverpool take quickly. Endo tries to release Szoboszlai down the right. The pass is too strong, but Szoboszlai somehow reaches🌧️ it before it goes out for a corner, then sends in a cross that’s deflected miles into the sky by🌧️ Ogbonna, so much so that Nunez can’t leap high enough to head home a couple of yards out. Coufal turns🌧️ it out for a corner, from which nothing comes.
20 Dec 2024 20.47 GMT HALF TIME: Liverpool 1-0 West Ham United🌧️ On the balance of play, this scoreline flatters West Ham. They’ll need to do some thinking if they’re to deny🌧️ Liverpool progress to the last four.
20 Dec 2024 20.46 GMT 45 min +1: One added minute. Benrahma dribbles down the🌧️ left but can’t get a cross in. Kelleher still hasn’t had his hands warmed.
20 Dec 2024 20.45 GMT 45 min:🌧️ Elliott makes good down the right. He sails infield before curling a lovely cross into the mixer. Gakpo rises highest,🌧️ on the edge of the six-yard box, and guides a header across Areola and inches wide of the right-hand post.🌧️ On target, that was 2-0, because Areola was rooted to the spot.
20 Dec 2024 20.44 GMT 44 min: The West🌧️ Ham fans aren’t letting it get them down, though. A lusty rendition of Bubbles. “It seems to me that Liverpool🌧️ are shooting from range a lot more than other teams are, and that they themselves used to do,” observes Kári🌧️ Tulinius. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Klopp or someone on his staff identified some marginal gain, whether purely in goals🌧️ scored from range, or also because it makes defenders worry about players forty yards from goal, which can free up🌧️ space in behind.”
20 Dec 2024 20.42 GMT 42 min: Kudus tries to get something going for West Ham. He dribbles🌧️ down the right, cuts infield, then … hoicks a wild crossfield pass, directed towards nobody, into the Kop. West Ham🌧️ have done absolutely nothing in attack.
20 Dec 2024 20.40 GMT 40 min: A loose ball in the West Ham box.🌧️ Gomez races in, swings a leg and … misses altogether. He’s never scored a goal in senior football. The wait🌧️ goes on.
