West Ham United leapfrogged Liverpool into third place on the Premier League table with a 3-2 win over Jurgen Klopp’s side at London Stadium on Sunday.
The Reds went behind after just four minutes when Alisson flapped at Pablo Fornals’ corner amidst pressure from Angelo Ogbonna and failed to stop the ball from entering his own goal.
In what was a scrappy first-half, West Ham were lucky not to be undermanned when Aaron Cresswell caught Jordan Henderson with a nasty tackle. Conversely, Diogo Jota escaped punishment for an elbow on Ogbonna.
Liverpool were back level before half-time thanks to a sumptuous free kick from just outside the box from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
David Moyes’ clearly instructed his side to make corners difficult for Liverpool’s Brazilian goalkeeper and they almost went ahead shortly after half-time when Craig Dawson headed off the bar.
But the Hammers regained the lead midway through the first-half when Fornals was slipped through on goal and Alisson was unable to keep out his shot.
Kurt Zouma put Moyes and London Stadium into delirium when he was left unmarked to header home a corner at the back post.
Substitute Divock Origi came off the bench to fire in an excellent goal to give Liverpool a chance.
Klopp’s side should have had at least a point after Sadio Mane missed a free diving header from six yards out.
Speaking after the game, Klopp was livid with Ogbonna’s slight contact with Alisson for the first goal and Cresswell’s tackle on Henderson.
“The first goal is a foul on the goalie,” he told Sky Sports. “The arm goes against Alisson’s arm so how can he catch the ball when someone pulls his arm away. It makes no sense. It’s the typical excuse that VAR says it’s not clear and obvious but then what do you need?
“What can [Alisson] do? That’s why the goalie is protected in moments. If a player goes up with his arm for a goalie that’s an important position of the body and if that’s in the way how can he make a save?
“People will say I’m looking for excuses, I’m not. I accept we’re not too good to lose football games. Today we lost it, that’s not nice but I accept it. But when we speak about situations in a game you just need normal decisions from a referee. He didn’t do that.
“Cresswell? For me it’s a reckless challenge. Even though he touches the ball, you can’t go in like that as anything can happen. You can say he touched the ball but you have to control your body.
“Those two situations were influential in the game but in the end West Ham fought for the three points. They are not responsible for the decisions the VAR made.
He added in the post-match press conference: “It’s a clear foul on Alisson, how can it not be? The arm from Ogbonna is there. I don’t know who is VAR today.
“The ref made it easy for himself, and said let’s see what the VAR said, they said it’s not clear and obvious. It was really strange.”
