TipResumen

LIVERPOOL

It has been twenty-eight years since Liverpool could last call themselves Champions of England, but the long wait could be coming to an end if the signings they have made are as effective on the pitch as they look to be on paper. Finishing as Runners Up in the Champions League has only meant the expectations were pretty high for this season anyway, but the vast amounts of money spent by Jurgen Klopp have only increased those. The money spent hasn't been done for the sake of just spending either with the club strengthening at goalkeeper and centre midfield to add to Virgil Van Dijk who had an impact at improving Liverpool defensively when arriving in January. Alisson is the Brazilian Number 1 goalkeeper, while Fabinho and Naby Keita come in from France and Germany to give Liverpool a solid base to go along with the front three who were so rampant last season. Finishing 4th in the Premier League last season means Liverpool are able to offer Champions League Football in back to back seasons for the first time in almost a decade, and many consider this club the most likely challenger to Manchester City in the top flight. The Reds might have finished 25 points behind Manchester City last season, but fans will point to a real chance to improve at Anfield where Liverpool finished 12-7-0 in the Premier League. Liverpool actually ended last season with 1 win from their last 5 games in all competitions and they were beaten in 3 of their last 4. However they were unbeaten in their last 10 at Anfield in all competitions and Liverpool were able to win 7 of those games. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been ruled out for much of the upcoming season if not the entire season. Ragnar Klaven, Joe Gomez, Dejan Lovren, Jordan Henderson, Trent ArnoldAlexander, Joel Matip and James Milner are all doubts, although Arnold-Alexander, Gomez and Milner are the most likely to be available for this fixture.



WEST HAM UNITED

The fans have been very unhappy with the owners of West Ham United over the last couple of years as the move to the London Stadium did not come with the promised increase of financial clout for the club. The owners clearly have been affected by the dissatisfaction of the fans and they have responded by bringing in Manuel Pellegrini as manager and there is no doubt he has been heavily backed in the transfer market too. Pellegrini comes in with a decent reputation after his time managing Manchester City in the Premier League and that has helped in attracting some decent players to the club. Spending big money to bring in Andriy Yarmolenko, Issa Diop and Felipe Anderson looks to have improved the quality, while smart additions of Lukasz Fabianski, Jack Wilshere and Ryan Fredericks has increased the expectations of the fans in the upcoming season. Last season was a disappointing one for West Ham United as they flirted with relegation for too long and only finished 13th in the Premier League table. The Hammers finished with a poor 3-6-10 away record in the 2017/18 campaign and also conceded a League high of 42 away goals. West Ham United ended last season with just 2 losses from their final 8 Premier League games and a strong pre-season has only added to the belief they are ready for a very successful campaign. The Hammers won at Leicester City in their last away game to snap a run of 5 defeats in 6 on their travels, but this is an immediate test of the new look squad as they head to Anfield on the opening weekend. Winston Reid, Andy Carroll and Jordan Hugill have all been ruled out, while Manuel Lanzini was injured while with Argentina prior to the World Cup and will be out for a number of months. Yarmolenko is expected to shake off a knock to take part in this fixture.



HEAD TO HEAD

Liverpool did the Premier League double over West Ham United last season and both wins came by the same 4-1 scoreline. Liverpool had not won any of 3 previous games against The Hammers at Anfield prior to the victory in February.



PREDICTION

The first Premier League game to be shown live on Sunday in the 2018/19 will come from Anfield as one of the hot tips to win the Premier League open their League campaign against West Ham United. Put aside the fact that Jurgen Klopp has proven to be a hypocrite for criticising the amount of money other clubs spend just two seasons ago and you can see why Liverpool are considered the club most likely to challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title this season. They have made big purchases to improve the problematic goalkeeping position as well as upgrading their midfield options by bringing in Fabinho and Naby Keita. With a front three who look full of goals, Liverpool fans will be expecting big silverware at the end of the season having come so close to winning the Champions League in May. The squad depth has been added to by bringing in Xherdan Shaqiri too and it is no surprise that Liverpool are big favourites to beat West Ham United on Sunday. However Manuel Pellegrini has arrived at West Ham United and immediately made an impact by being given the funds to make some quality additions to the club. A strong pre-season has many of the fans believing this is going to be a very strong season for The Hammers and the owners will be hoping the same to avoid the unsavoury scenes that have been seen at the London Stadium in the last couple of years. It is a huge test from the off for West Ham United who have been given a difficult looking start to the season in terms of fixtures. They have to head to Arsenal in a couple of weeks and also have to play at Everton and host Chelsea and Manchester United before the end of September. Even then I do think this is an improved West Ham United team and I think they will offer a real test to Liverpool on Sunday. You can only imagine Liverpool will be better at Anfield than last season when they drew too many games here, but the defensive injuries will give West Ham United a chance to play a part here in a Stadium where they have enjoyed some success in recent years. West Ham United scored in both heavy losses to Liverpool last season and they have looked good in pre-season while also having a squad that looks to be clearer of injuries than at most points last season. With Liverpool likely missing some of their defensive options for this one, West Ham United can score here for the 4th time in 6 visits to Anfield. It is almost impossible to think Liverpool won't score having managed that in 16 of their 19 home League games last season and I will back both teams to do that in this live game.