After their first attempt at this FA Cup fixture ended 0-0, West Ham and Liverpool reconvene at Upton Park to try and battle through to a 5th round tie against Blackburn this Tuesday evening.

Though both sides have stalled since that fixture at the end of January, it is Liverpool who have looked worse in the intervening 2 games, with the added headache of a distracting ticket-pricing scandal to deal with as well. First up was an away game at Leicester, by no means an easy tie yet one that, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, many big sides would still fancy getting something from. Yet Liverpool became the latest casualty in the rise and rise of the Foxes, a second half brace from Jamie Vardy sealing Leicester’s place at the top of the table whilst leaving the Reds languishing in 8th.



It looked like Liverpool were going to immediately rebound from that loss on Saturday, leading Sunderland 2-0 thanks to Roberto Firmino and Adam Lallana. However, after 10,000 fans staged a 77th minute walkout to protest the impending ticket price hike, the Reds conceded 82nd and 89th minute goals from Adam Johnson and Jermain Defoe respectively, leaving Liverpool in 9th place on 35 points (6 away from Manchester United in 5th) and with a solitary league win in 2016.

The Hammers have fared better in the interim, though only slightly. A competent display over Aston Villa gave them a routine 2-0 victory, and kept them in the running for a spot in Europe; this weekend, however, saw West Ham slip up, a 1-0 loss at Southampton despite playing 37 minutes of the game with an extra man following Victor Wanyama’s third dismissal of the season. Somewhat luckily for West Ham, however, Manchester United’s draw against Chelsea leaves them only 2 points ahead of the Hammers in 5th, whilst the Saints’ win still leaves them 2 points adrift of the east London club in 7th.

Despite their weekend lost at St Mary’s the Hammers are still in better form than the issue-plagued Reds. However the potential return of Philippe Coutinho, Divock Origi and Daniel Sturrige means the London side only have a (very) slender advantage at a West Ham/Liverpool Goal Supremacy spread of 0.05-0.25 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.35-2.55.

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