Good evening and welcome along to our live coverage of the FA Cup fourth round clash between Liverpool and West Brom from Anfield.
Kick-off on Merseyside is at 7.45pm and we’ll bring you all the build-up — including team news — between now and then. Stick with us!
TEAM NEWS: Adam Lallana misses out for Liverpool with a thigh strain while James Milner has a dead leg. Jurgen Klopp makes three changes, including a return for Alberto Moreno who hasn’t featured since 6 December.
Liverpool: Mignolet, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Moreno, Can, Wijnaldum, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mane, Salah, Firmino.
Subs: Ward, Lovren, Milner, Gomez, Henderson, Ings, Solanke.
TEAM NEWS: And this is how Alan Pardew’s West Brom will line out. James McClean is among the substitutes for the visitors.
Tonight will be the 150th meeting between the two clubs in all competitions, with Liverpool winning 68 and West Brom 38.
Which way do you see it going?
Poll Results:
TODAY’S RESULTS: Let’s take a look at the other fourth round ties which have been played today, with League One Wigan dumping West Ham out while Newport County have just held Tottenham to a 1-1 draw.
- Peterborough 1-5 Leicester
- Huddersfield 1-1 Birmingham
- Hull 2-1 Nottingham Forest
- Middlesbrough 0-1 Brighton
- Millwall 2-2 Rochdale
- Milton Keynes 0-1 Coventry
- Notts County 1-1 Swansea
- Sheff Utd 1-0 Preston
- Southampton 1-0 Watford
- Wigan 2-0 West Ham
- Newport 1-1 Tottenham
- Liverpool v West Brom (7:45pm)
Just about set at Anfield for the final tie of the day. Can the Baggies inflict more misery on Liverpool and cause an upset?
Alan Pardew says his side arrive here with absolutely no pressure on them.
“We take less pressure into this game. It’s a cup game with no league points on offer,” he said pre-match.
“The pressure is off us so maybe we can open up our game a little bit which is what I’ve been trying to encourage since I have been here.
“We will go to Liverpool and try and cause them problems.”
KICK OFF: Liverpool get us underway, with the hosts defending the Kop in this first half.
3 mins – Liverpool enjoying all the early possession as Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane both have long-distance efforts blocked.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 West Brom (Firmino)
Well, that didn’t take long. Hesitation and confusion between Evans and Foster allows Salah through on goal and while the goalkeeper makes a smart save from the Liverpool forward, Firmino follows up to dink it delightfully into the empty goal. That’s the Brazilian’s first FA Cup goal.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 West Brom (Rodriguez)
Wow! West Brom were behind for all of 68 seconds as they hit back instantly, and what a hit. Jay Rodriguez manufactures a yard of space for himself and smashes a powerful drive into the top corner.
9 mins – An incredible start to this cup tie. Liverpool look to hit the front again as Firmino and Salah combine down the right before the latter squares it looking for Mane but the striker is unable to stretch and get a toe on it.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-2 West Brom (Rodriguez)
Oh my word. Krychowiak skips past Emre Can and lays it off for the overlapping Gibbs on the left, who squares it perfectly for Rodriguez to run onto and fire home from close range.
12 mins — Liverpool are giving West Brom all sorts of space and Rodriguez has punished them twice in the opening quarter. Anfield is a little stunned.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-3 West Brom (Dawson)
It goes from bad to worse for Liverpool. Brunt swings in the corner and Mignolet is rooted to his line, allowing Craig Dawson to get above his man and head home from two yards out.
NO GOAL! The referee asks his video assistant via the new VAR system to have a look at that goal and it’s chalked off because replays show Gareth Barry — who is interfering with the goalkeeper — standing in an offside position. A huge let off for Liverpool!
22 mins – Drama at Anfield and we’re only 22 minutes in. The latest incident sees Salah fall to the ground in the area and Craig Pawson is going to look at this too.
23 mins – Confusion reigns as Craig Pawson is now going over to have a look at the replays on the pitch-side monitors. It certainly looks like Salah was pulled back by Livermore.
Penalty! The referee overturns his decision and points to the spot!
West Brom are absolutely furious and Barry has been shown a yellow card for his remonstrations.
MISSED! Firmino smashes his penalty against the crossbar and West Brom get it clear. A truly remarkable 26 minutes of football.
29 mins – Okay, so after all of that it’s still Liverpool 1-2 West Brom.
MATCH SHOT: Jay Rodriguez celebrates his second goal.
30 mins – Liverpool have their tails up now as Evans brilliantly denies Firmino with a last-ditch block. The Northern Ireland defender making up for his earlier mistake there to prevent a certain goal.
34 mins – Kieran Gibbs appears to be in real trouble as he stays down on the far side, holding his leg. The physios are on but Ahmed Hegazy is readying himself on the sideline.
This pretty much sums up the first 35 minutes here at Anfield. Incredible drama.
38 mins – Moment after Kieran Gibbs hobbles off clutching his hamstring, Hal Robson-Kanu has done the same and Matty Phillips is on up front for West Brom.
45 mins – Salah finds space in between the lines but pushes his shot wide from a tight angle. We’re going to have four minutes of added time.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-3 West Brom (Matip OG)
Craig Dawson finds himself up field and is played in behind the Liverpool defence, before smashing it across goal where Matip deflects it into his own net under pressure from Brunt and Rodriguez.
45+3 mins – Before that goal was awarded, Craig Pawson again decided to have a look at the replays with more than a suspicion of offside — but it stands. Liverpool in all sorts of trouble now.
HALF TIME: Liverpool 1-3 West Brom
An extraordinary half of football and at the end of it all, the visitors are threatening a real upset thanks to Jay Rodriguez’s quickfire double and that Matip own goal on the stroke of the break.
VAR has taken centre stage, with West Brom having a goal ruled out and Liverpool being retrospectively awarded a penalty after Livermore pulled Salah down in the box — and then Firmino smashed the spot kick against the crossbar.
KICK OFF: We’re back underway at Anfield.
48 mins – West Brom have the ball in the back of the net again as Brunt’s looping effort is headed home but Dawson is clearly offside.
50 mins – There’s no sign of West Brom sitting back on this lead, and why would they when Liverpool are so vulnerable defensively?
56 mins – Liverpool are staring down the barrel of a first home defeat in 20 games and being dumped out of the FA Cup, yet it’s West Brom who still look more dangerous every time they go forward.
Klopp has Dejan Lovren, James Milner, Joe Gomez, Jordan Henderson, Danny Ings and Dominic Solanke on the bench.
60 mins – Chance for Liverpool as Mane is fouled by Barry on the edge of the area, but Firmino’s set-piece is poor. Frustration growing at Anfield.
64 mins – Triple change here from Liverpool. Milner, Henderson and Ings on for Can, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mane. Last throw of the dice from Klopp.
71 mins – West Brom also making their final change with Barry replaced by Claudio Yacob. Into the final 20 minutes.
72 mins – Not a lot happening at Anfield, if truth be told. The atmosphere has been sucked out of the ground and there’s no real intensity to proceedings at the moment. West Brom doing a good job of subduing the hosts.
73 mins – Just as I say that, Ben Foster is forced into a smart stop as he beats Milner’s half-volley away to safety after Trent Alexander-Arnold had made good ground down the right.
74 mins – And another Foster save! Liverpool have come alive all of a sudden as Firmino feeds Ings, who tees himself up and attempts to curl it into the far corner but the West Brom ‘keeper is equal to the task.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-3 West Brom (Salah)
Game on! Alexander-Arnold floats a hopeful ball into the area and when it comes back off Firmino, Salah is there to sweep home with his left foot past Foster. 10 minutes left on the clock.
81 mins – Anfield has come alive and West Brom are now penned inside their own half.
82 mins – Firmino and Milner work it well down the left and after playing a one-two, the latter is scythed down by Dawson, who goes into the book. Good chance for the Reds here.
83 mins – Milner plays it short for Moreno, who whips it in but Foster comes off his line to claim. Seven minutes and counting for the Baggies.
84 mins — Ings makes a good run and is picked out by Moreno, with Hegazy coming across to get it behind before Foster does. The West Brom defender is booked for dissent and then his goalkeeper claims another ball into the box. The visitors will do well to hang on here.
87 mins – Backs to the wall for the Baggies now, and it looks like Livermore is struggling, but the visitors have used all three subs.
90 mins — Time running out for Liverpool as we enter four minutes of injury time.
90+4 mins – Last chance as it’s swung it towards van Dijk, who gets good contact on it but Foster gets down low to his left to save.
FULL TIME! Liverpool 2-3 West Brom
The Baggies hold out to pull off a memorable FA Cup upset and inflict more misery on Liverpool, who are beaten here for the first time this season. The Reds exit this competition at the fourth round stage for the third consecutive year.
Thanks for joining us this evening and be sure to check out the site a bit later on for a full report and reaction from Anfield. Until next time, goodbye!
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