Liverpool came away from the London Stadium with a point as West Ham United put in an admirable performance to hold the league leaders.
There was considerable doubt about Liverpool’s goal in the 1-1 draw. James Milner, who supplied the cross for Sadio Mane to score looked offside. The linesman failed to spot it, and Mane’s finish gave Liverpool the lead. Michail Antonio leveled in the first half, which meant that the spoils were shared.
West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini was naturally irate at the slice of luck Liverpool got. Furthermore, his history of a similar incident with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp annoyed him further. Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund beat Pellegrini’s Malaga 3-2 in dramatic circumstances in the 2013 Champions League. In the quarter-final second leg, Dortmund scored a late winner courtesy of a move in which four players were offside.
“Klopp is used to winning with offside goals,” said Pellegrini. “He beat me against Malaga with a goal seven metres offside – so he cannot complain about anything.”
About Liverpool’s chances in the game, he said: “They scored a goal one metre offside. And in the last minute with Origi in front of the linesman, again one metre offside.”
The Argentinian added, “I said in the week that we need to win this game for our fans and if we are going to give a hand to Manchester City, well, they are my club also. Maybe that was the reason the manager of Liverpool didn’t like it.” Pellegrini was the Manchester City manager for three seasons, and he won the Premier League with the Cityzens.