David Moyes says who was best player on pitch ‘by a mile’ in Liverpool’s defeat of West Ham

David Moyes felt West Ham deserved something out of their loss to Liverpool.

The Reds earned a 1-0 victory over the Hammers at Anfield courtesy of Darwin Nunez’s 22nd-minute header.

However, the away side had their chances to claim at least a point.

Jarrod Bowen saw a first-half penalty saved by Liverpool goalkeer Alisson Becker. And in the closing stages, a combination of a James Milner block and Alisson save thwarted Thomas Soucek.

Moyes said: “Disappointed in the end we didn’t come away with something, we had a real big opportunity to do so but look, we’ve been here a few times now and it’s been the same story. The last few times we’ve been here, it’s been the same thing. I hoped tonight we’d be able to change it but just not quite able to get over the line against them.

“We didn’t play particularly well, we knew we just didn’t quite settle right at the start. I thought we got much better at the second half, but even when we hadn’t played particularly well in the first half, we were a threat.

“We gave the ball away numerous times in the opening 20 minutes which meant we gave Liverpool the ball back most of the time, which is not a good thing to do. We kept at it, stuck at it, we were resilient, carried a little bit of luck when we needed it and eventually clawed our way back into the game. To be fair, the last t10/15 minutes of the first half, we’d done quite well and we played well in the second half.”

Despite West Ham falling to defeat and Liverpool’s Thiago Alcantara and Alisson earning rave reviews, Moyes felt his captain Declan Rice, was the best performer on the pitch ‘by a mile’.

Moyes added: “If you didn’t see it, he was the best player on the pitch by a mile tonight. He’s a top player, could play for any club he’s that good.

“He was back to his best tonight. For long periods he had fantastic parts of play, how he took the ball and drove past people with the ball. I thought he was the best player on the pitch tonight.”