Liverpool vs West Ham United: Premier League Prediction Panel 2008/9 - preview and predictions

Liverpool have passed up two glorious opportunities to put some breathing space between them and Chelsea this season, surely they’re not going to mess it up against West Ham United tonight?

Arsenal not only gave their own title hopes a boost yesterday by beating Chelsea they have also given Liverpool the chance to go three points clear at the top of the Premiership. And they are red-hot favourites to win tonight.

Anfield has not been a happy hunting ground for the Hammers. Their last, and only third, victory in front of the famous Kop came in September 1963 – a staggering 45 years ago. And it is almost a decade since the Irons left the red half of Merseyside with a point when a certain Frank Lampard scored with a penalty in a 2-2 draw.

Gianfranco Zola has not had the best of starts at Upton Park but there are signs that things are beginning to turn around. They recorded their first win in seven last weekend at the Stadium of Light against a struggling Sunderland side, which came hot on the heels of a goalless draw against FA Cup holders Portsmouth. The Hammers are playing good football and if they could consistently find the back of the net they would easily find themselves in the top half of the table.

However, Liverpool are the team to beat this season. They have made their best start to a Premiership season in years and many pundits believe that Rafa’s Reds are now the real deal. Only Stoke City and Fulham have denied them maximum points at Anfield this season and their only defeat came against a Harry Redknapp-inspired Spurs side so West Ham are in for a testing time this evening.

The Hammers went down 4-0 in this fixture last season thanks to a hat-trick from Fernando Torres so the travelling fans will be relieved to know that the Spaniard is out due to injury. Now they only have to cope with Gerrard, Kuyt and Keane.

Questions have been raised over whether Liverpool have the mental strength to cope with the pressures of a title race. We will learn an awful lot about that tonight.

Liverpool vs West Ham United; Kick Off 8:00pm 01 Dec 2008

Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).

Tony Bellew : TBC - TBC
Dave Blackburn : TBC - TBC
Sue Gardener : TBC - TBC
Chris Goodwin : 1 - 0
Paul Grech (sqf) : 0 - 0
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 2 - 1
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : 1 - 0
Peter Lee : 2 - 0
Don McMahon : 3 - 2
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 3 - 0
Stephen Orford (sqf) : 1 - 0
Tony Ratton : 2 - 1
Peter Rendle : 3 - 1
Dan Taylor : 1 - 0
Bill Urban (sqf) : TBC - TBC
Andy Wakeman : 3 - 0
Isaac Williams : 2 - 0
Mark Williams : 2 - 0

Panel Verdict
The panel expects Liverpool to win comfortably by a couple of goals.

Home: 13; Draw: 1; Away: 0; TBC: 4;

* Do we have it right, or do you know better? Please don't bother with derisory comments on the predictions after the match - unless you also pulled us up before it!