Hammers unlucky to lose amid VAR controversy

West Ham 1 Liverpool 2

At the London Stadium Nigel is enjoying listening to The Trooper by Iron Maiden and is still in disbelief that his new digital season ticket is actually working. He's with Big Sam, the son of CQ's oldest friend, and we're joined by Matt, Lisa and Fraser.

Early on Alisson, whose aim is not true, passes straight to Bowen and his cross almost finds Antonio, while Salah has a shot blocked at the other end. The Hammers take the lead with a fine goal. It starts with some great control from Benrahma and then sees an intricate one-two between Antonio and Paqueta before the Brazilian unleashes a screamer from the edge of the box. Now that looks like the work of a £50m player and underlines Paqueta's recent improvement. 

The crowd is full of noise and positivity and it looks like we might upset the Scousers. They are pinging it around well though, with Alexander-Arnold in central midfield much of the time. It's Trent who finds Gakpo 25 yards from goal. He's not closed down quickly enough and fires a hard low shot in off the post.

Jota goes close with couple of chances for Liverpool but West Ham match them. With Henderson filling in at right-back at times, Antonio causes him problems. Benrahma gets down the left to cross across the box and only a last-ditch intervention from Van Dijk prevents Antonio from scoring. From the corner Rice wins the first header but Antonio can't direct the second header on target. 

The second half sees the Irons apparently take the lead. A great through ball from Aguerd releases Bowen who races into box, stands up Van Dijk, and with very little backlift fires into the net. Only sodding VAR intervenes and he's offside by a boot. This proves costly as West Ham's zonal marking at a corner is all wrong and Matip crashes home a free header.

West Ham make a determined effort to equalise and the key moment is when Thiago tries to tackle sub Danny Ings and falls on the ball with his hand. Astonishingly ref Chris Kavanagh doesn't even consult VAR. Moyes gives the officials his Glasgow death stare and later makes a valid point that if the defender lunges in and is out of control it should be a penalty even if the handball was accidental.

There's still time for the Vicar's Son to berate subs Ings for bottling a challenge with Alisson and Cornet for being Cornet, before Liverpool end up winning their third game in succession. They looked more like the Liverpool of old tonight, so it's no disgrace to lose to them. Its been an entertaining match, Aguerd had made some great interceptions and Paqueta has looked like he's now a PL force, so there are reasons for optimism.

We head off to Ye Olde Black Bull, where an angry and shouty punter has to be ejected - and  it's not David Moyes. Arsenal are getting battered on the TV as Nigel and Matt engage in some competitive groundhopping tales and discuss players with palindromic names like Eze. The Brixton Pale Ale is a bonus, though once we see the replay of Thiago's handball it's back to berating officialdom. Still, on this form we should hopefully get some survival points from the next six games.

PLAYER RATINGS: Fabianski 6; Coufal 6, Zouma 7, Aguerd 7, Cresswell 6; Rice 7, Soucek 6, Benrahma 7 (Cornet 5), Paqueta 8; Bowen 7, Antonio 6 (Ings 5).