West Ham United 0-4 Liverpool - Premier League as it happened

Full-time: West Ham United 0-4 Liverpool

Abysmal from West Ham, but rather impressive from Liverpool, who go one step closer to securing Champions League football for next season with an emphatic 4-0 win.

Daniel Sturridge gave the Reds the lead with a classy dribble and finish before a quickfire Philippe Coutinho brace downed the sorry Hammers, who were incensed by referee Neil Swarbrick's failure to award a penalty for a Gini Wijnaldum. Divock Origi added gloss to the scoreline late on.

That's all for our coverage from The London Stadium, but do head over to our Tottenham vs Manchester United liveblog for what is sure to be a cracker at the Lane.

Klopp throws on a couple of youngsters for a brief run-out as Woodburn and Grujic replace Coutinho and Lallana. The former is given a standing ovation by the travelling Liverpool fans, and rightly so.

Snodgrass almost gives the West Ham fans still in attendance something to cheer with a wondrous volley that flies just over the bar.

Klopp makes his first change of the day with just five minutes to go. The German sees fit to replace the impressive Sturridge with Lucas. Two players who may not be Liverpool players come the summer.

Origi robs Byram of the ball but goes for goal instead of feeding Sturridge, who would have surely made it 5-0. Liverpool are doing all the attacking, dictating the pace, doing whatever they want really.

Nothing more than a training session at this stage.

It's four for Liverpool, and it's superb work from Daniel Sturridge.

The forward dances past Cresswell with ease and crosses low into the area. It bobbles off Lallana, cannons off Wijnaldum and ends up in the path of Origi, who made no mistake.

Snodgrass is on for Ayew.

GOAL! West Ham United 0-4 Liverpool (Origi)

Coutinho had a chance to complete a wondrous hat-trick with a free-kick but failed to test Adrian. Just under 20 minutes to go, and it's plain sailing for Jurgen Klopp's men.

Coutinho is the man of the moment for the Reds.

Origi almost made it four with a whistling effort that strikes the bar from all of 30 yards out.

At the other end, Lanzini curls a free-kick high and wide of Mignolet's post. West Ham players - Collins particularly - still giving Swarbrick both barrels.

Oh dear. Neil Swarbrick has made a huge mistake that has ended the match as a contest.

Gini Wijnaldum clearly handled the ball in his own area but the referee decided not to award a penalty to West Ham. Liverpool break up the other end, and the culprit Wijnaldum tees up to Coutinho, who keeps his composure to blast the ball past Adrian.

A real shame for West Ham.

GOAL! West Ham United 0-3 Liverpool (Coutinho)

Superb strike from Coutinho!

The Brazilian picks up the rebound from Wijnaldum's stunning effort, jinks past a number of challenges and finds the bottom corner with unerring accuracy. Coutinho has been arguably Liverpool's best player today, and has scored a crucial goal as the reds seek to cement their place in the top four.

GOAL! West Ham United 0-2 Liverpool (Coutinho)

Bilic makes an early double change as he bids to stem the flow of the match. Calleri and Fonte are replaced by Sofiane Feghouli and Ashley Fletcher, as the Hammers change their shape.

Liverpool almost double their lead immediately into the second half through Origi, Sturridge and Lallana, who all have chances to shoot, but Adrian stands firm.

The Spaniard then denied Wijnaldum and ends his flurry of saves by palming the ball out for a corner.

Back underway at The London Stadium. Will Liverpool hold on, or will West Ham deliver a hammer blow to their Champions League aspirations?

Half-time: West Ham United 0-1 Liverpool

Liverpool in front through Daniel Sturridge's calm finish and deserve to be so in truth. After a lively start West Ham have been firmly second best, thought they should have been level through Andre Ayew, who somehow managed to hit the post twice from two yards out.

Liverpool closing in on the win they desperately need.

Two minutes of first-half stoppage time. Collins manages to connect with a Lanzini free-kick but his header drifts easily into the palms of Mignolet.

West Ham should be level!

Lanzini's cross falls to the feet of Ayew, who somehow manages to hit the post twice from two yards out. Unbelievable let-off for Liverpool, how on earth did he miss?!

Sturridge put Liverpool firmly in the driving seat for the Champions League with his opener. Liverpool now pressing for a second before half-time.

A wonderful through ball from Coutinho sets Sturridge away. The striker dances past Adrian with a sublime bit of skill and tucks the ball into an empty net. West Ham's defence were all at sea, and Sturridge kept his nerve to punish their disorganisation.

GOAL! West Ham United 0-1 Liverpool (Sturridge)

A defensive mix-up from West Ham United allows Sturridge to raid into score, but the England international did not have the pace to get away from Reid, who atoned for the error.

Sturridge laid the ball off to Coutinho who shoots, but his effort is blocked by Adrian. Liverpool starting to forces the issue, but it remains goalless.

Matip came close to opening the scoring early on.

Coutinho cuts inside and darts past a couple of West Ham player before unleashing a shot from all of 30 yards. It doesn't test Adrian but only just whistles over the bar. Still 0-0.

Cresswell is now down in pain after colliding aerially with Origi. The stoppages have seen the game quieten down after a lively start, but Milner almost opened the scoring with a deflected effort that was grabbed by Adrian.

The game is stopped with Origi down clutching his leg. The knock came as a result of Fonte's challenge, but there was nothing malicious in it and the Belgian is now back on his feet.

Edimilson Fernandes tests Mignolet with a well-struck effort from outside the area. A lively start from both sides at The London Stadium, with West Ham doing well against Liverpool's pressing and diamond system.

Coutinho's corner meets the head of Matip, whose downward header hits the bar. West Ham scramble the ball clear for another corner and eventually get rid of the danger.

The first real chance of the game goes to West Ham. Calleri hold the ball and brings Byram into the play, the right-back takes his time but skews a shot well wide of the goal. Should have done much better.

Cresswell gets the better of Clyne and delivers another looping ball that Mignolet gathers. He throws the ball straight out of play in order for Lovren to receive attention; the Croatian felt the full force of the flying Belgian.

West Ham trying to work some magic down their left through Cresswell, who delivers a teasing ball that Milner heads away. The left-back's second cross is rather rash, and flies out for a goal-kick.

Andre Ayew gets things under way. Bubbles swirl all around The London Stadium.

The teams emerge from the tunnel and make their way onto the pitch.

Some pre-match thoughts from both managers:

Klopp: "I hope they can make the difference, unfortunately Firmino is out but that's how it is. Today's a game. It's a big game, there's no difference to other games, only if you think there is.

"I hope we can do this, I hope the boys feel the freedom to play football. Training was good, if we can bring it on the pitch, we should be okay."

Bilic: "We're playing against a team that needs points, because they want to keep the Champions League in their hands. We're playing Liverpool, a great team, we'll have to be on top of our game to get anything."

The Hammers look in fine fettle as they are put through their pre-match paces. Will they be able to do this when it counts? Kick-off just moments away.

A reminder of Liverpool's starting line-up in fancy video form.

Toxic thunder is the kit of choice for Liverpool today. The sun is beaming down in east London, West Ham may have a trouble spotting their opponents.

The two England internationals return from respective injuries for the Reds. There is not much in the Liverpool bench in terms of attacking quality, so the returning duo will have to come up with the goods.

West Ham have fond memories of home victories over Liverpool, but the Reds can recall some magical moments at Upton Park, too...

Will they create at The London Stadium? Kick-off less than an hour away.

TEAM NEWS

West Ham United substitutes: Randolph, Feghouli, Snodgrass, Ogbonna, Fletcher, Quina, Rice.

TEAM NEWS

West Ham United: Adrian, Fonte, Reid, Collins, Byram, Fernandes, Nordtveit, Cresswell, Lanzini, Ayew, Calleri.

TEAM NEWS

Liverpool substitutes: Karius, Moreno, Grujic, Alexander-Arnold, Lucas, Klavan, Woodburn.

TEAM NEWS

TEAM NEWS

Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Lovren, Matip, Milner, Can, Wijnaldum, Lallana, Coutinho, Sturridge, Origi.

Sturridge returns to the starting line-up in the absence of Firmino.

West Ham have fond memories of facing the Reds at home...

West Ham United are without a host of key players for the clash against the Reds, with Andy Carroll, Mark Noble and Cheikhou Kouyate all out for a host of differing reasons.

"Andy Carroll won't be able to play against Liverpool," Slaven Bilic told reporters at his pre-match press conference. "He's still feeling his groin. It's nothing major but he will miss the game."

"This hernia thing he [Mark Noble] has had for a couple of months but he didn't want to talk about it. He wanted to help the club and the team but it did affect him. I wanted him to play against Liverpool but the surgeon said the surgery needed to happen as soon as possible."

"Again, [Cheikhou Kouyate's] problem became worse," Bilic added. "He was supposed to have the operation earlier but because we needed him, we made a plan for him to play as much as possible."

A big blow for Liverpool is the absence of Roberto Firmino, who is struggling with what Jurgen Klopp described as a 'muscle thing'. Lucas Leiva is also out with a similar problem.

"We left him [Roberto] out of training. It's a muscle thing," Klopp said in his press conference on Fridaty (12 May). "Lucas, after the game, [felt the same]. I asked both a lot of times, 'OK? OK?' and everybody said 'Yes, yes'. After the game they felt it.

"After the game, Lucas felt two different muscles and we said 'OK, we have to wait also'."

Good afternoon and welcome to IB Times UK's live coverage of West Ham United vs Liverpool.

Slaven Bilic's side may not have much to play for apart from professional and personal pride but they could have a huge say in the race for the Champions League, just as they did in the charge for the Premier League title.

Liverpool will strengthen their grip on a top four place if they manage to win today, but Jurgen Klopp will have to make do without first-choice forward Roberto Firmino for the clash at The London Stadium. Bilic's side, on the other hand, are beset by injuries

Stick with IB Times UK for the breaking team news, updates and reaction to all the goings on in east London.