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Does Virgil van Dijk know something we don’t? Liverpool star makes strange West Ham claim
VIRGIL VAN DIJK claimed West Ham practice free-kicks ‘a lot’ after Liverpool were held to a 1-1 draw at the London Stadium.
Reds went in front through Sadio Mane but were pegged back when Michail Antonio finished off a clever set-piece routine.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are now just three points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table.
And they will drop into second - albeit with a game in hand - if City beat Everton at Goodison Park on Wednesday night.
West Ham outsmarted Liverpool's defence on a number of occasions from set-pieces in east London.
And Van Dijk admitted his side were off the pace before making a bizarre claim about the hosts’ training practices.
"It's tough but they were decent and defended well. It could have been a lot better,” the Dutchman said.
"It is what it is. We have to keep going. That [free-kicks] is their strength, they practice on it a lot.
“When you have a back four who don't change it's maybe a bit easier. But we have enough quality to fill it.
"What can we do? We take it game by game. We're still top of the league. You need to enjoy the pressure.
“You can also be playing for nothing. We're still in the race. We go again."
Liverpool went in front on 22 minutes when James Milner was released down the right wing by a clever Adam Lallana through ball.
Milner crossed for Mane who swivelled before finishing with his left foot from close range, but replays showed Milner was clearly offside when he received the initial pass from Lallana.
The assistant referee did not raise his flag up despite the incident happening right in front of him, although he was perhaps too far ahead of play to make the call.
West Ham got their revenge just six minutes later as Antonio played a one-two with Felipe Anderson from a free-kick and fired past Alisson low into the far corner.
Declan Rice should have put the hosts 2-1 in front with a free header from eight yards out but his effort went high and wide of Alisson’s goal.
And Liverpool substitute Divock Origi spurned a superb chance right at the death as he shot straight at Lukasz Fabianski when through on goal.
West Ham skipper Mark Noble rued conceding the controversial first goal but was happy with the point after a run of three defeats in a row in all competitions.
"January was a bad month for us,” Noble conceded.
"We defended fantastically well and probably deserved to win tonight. You can't play man to man against Liverpool and out-pass them. You have to keep your shape and stop them.
"We scared them. You have to do that against the top teams. I'm just gutted we didn't come away with the three points.
"We're gutted in there because the goal was clearly offside. We scored a fantastic set-play and didn't manage to get a second goal."