Michail Antonio humbled after Liverpool beat West Ham 3:1

If only for his own sake, it’s just as well Michail Antonio is unable to place any bets.

The West Ham United striker raised a fair few eyebrows in the build-up to his latest visit to Anfield with a bold, bombastic claim about not only winning but also finishing above Liverpool in this season’s Premier League.

You know what, I think we are going to finish higher than Liverpool this season,” suggested Antonio earlier this week on his podcast with Newcastle United’s Callum Wilson. “I’m putting it out there.”

While such boasts are not necessarily to be discouraged in the era of media-trained blandness, the comments did present an illustration of how Jurgen Klopp’s team are being more widely overlooked now after the difficulties of last term; a campaign that, for all its obvious, deep-rooted problems, still took a top-four push until the final week back in May.

Another 3-1 victory for Klopp’s team – their third in eight days – was enough to ensure that Antonio’s insistence that his team would take maximum points at Anfield fell hopelessly flat.

Now up to second in the Premier League – and with the manager once more back in full fist-pumping motion in front of the Kop after the final whistle – it seems normal service is slowly resuming for the Reds.

Jurgen Klopp has lauded Joel Matip’s performance in Liverpool’s victory over West Ham United after the defender got the better of forward Michail Antonio.

The Jamaican International made headlines this week on his BBC podcast after insisting that David Moyes’ side would have the better of Liverpool at Anfield and finish above the Reds this season.

However, such words came back to bite him as the home crowd him jeered him both when he sent an early header wide and when he was substituted in the 74th minute.

Despite only beating Liverpool three times as a player, he had scored five goals from his previous 13 meetings with Klopp’s side before Sunday’s match.

Klopp would play down Antonio’s early miss, putting it down to windy conditions – but he was delighted with how Matip kept the forward quiet after his own surprise inclusion in the starting XI.