Liverpool can finally exorcise West Brom demons at Hawthorns

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Liverpool face West Brom at the Hawthorns today – a game in which they can exorcise some demons. A game between the two changed the Reds’ season.

Liverpool’s season could well be split in three. The first ‘part’ went up to Christmas.

The Reds were far from perfect and suffered some terrible injuries in this time. Most notably, Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Thiago and Diogo Jota went down.

But in truth, virtually everyone did at one point or another. Still, Liverpool looked like champions.

They say on top of the Premier League on Christmas day and were big favourites to retain their title. Not only were they leading the way, after all, but they’d just smashed Crystal Palace 7-0 at Selhurst Park.

And then everything changed.

That game had been on December 19th and the Reds’ next fixture was at home to West Brom on Boxing Day. The Anfield clash was supposed to be a routine win that kept the title drive going.

Instead, Liverpool put up an uncharacteristic 1-1 draw. They didn’t play well and blew their lead late on. Curtis Jones, enjoying a regular spell in the first-team, made an error deep in his own half that led to the Baggies’ equaliser.

Now, that should have just been one result that Liverpool quickly forgot about. Instead, it marked a negative turn in their season – to say the least.

The Reds did not win another Premier League game for other a month. They’d only win four between Christmas and the international break in mid-March, in fact.

That saw them plummet down the league table, completely ending any hopes of back-to-back Premier League titles. And that form all started with a draw against West Brom.

Liverpool at The Hawthorns

It’s not like Liverpool were cursed by that game, unable to find a win no matter how hard they tried. But it does represent the difference between the team before and after Christmas.

Fortunately, as they head to play West Brom again today, they do so in a third ‘part’ of their season. Because since that international break, Liverpool have found some form.

Perfect? No. But they’ve won back-to-back games now, and are unbeaten in seven Premier League games.

They’ll hope to continue all of that today against West Brom, knowing they need maximum points for a realistic chance of making the top four. And if they do get their win, it will work as a little sign that things are finally back on track.