Why Mignolet will ignore West Ham statistic
A lesson learned during his student days means Simon Mignolet will give no thought to West Ham United's troublesome record at Anfield when Liverpool aim to beat them this afternoon.
The Londoners have not taken three points from the Reds’ ground since September 1963, with the home side undefeated in the 42 league contests that have followed there.
Brendan Rodgers’ team are determined to extend that streak, having picked up seven points out of nine so far, before a pause in the season for an international break.
But they’ll not be giving any thought to what has gone before, according to Mignolet, with such numbers irrelevant to the task in hand in his opinion.
The goalkeeper told Liverpoolfc.com: “I learned in my degree at university that you can prove anything with stats! That goes out of the window.
“Every 90 minutes has to be played and every game of football is totally different. We have to be focused on the job in hand and try to get the three points.
“We’ll need patience – we’ll need that throughout the whole season.
“We’ll probably have more of the possession, but when you play against an opponent who is going to be tough and hard to beat then you have to wait for the one chance or decision or mistake that will come along, to get the three points. We’ll have to be patient if that’s needed.
“It might be that we score in the first minute; it might be that we score in the last minute. So we have to stay focused throughout the whole game to get the job done.”
The Hammers started the campaign with a stunning victory at the Emirates, downing Arsenal 2-0 away from home.
But Slaven Bilic’s side then suffered back-to-back defeats on their own turf against Leicester City and Bournemouth.
Mignolet is nevertheless anticipating a stern test at Anfield, though the stopper believes a third win of the season can be achieved if Liverpool produce their best.
“West Ham are a very good side, they have got good quality in the team and it will be a tough game, like every Premier League game,” he said.
“But playing at home at Anfield, you want to get three points. So we’ll be making sure we’re prepared to try to do that. Their coach played against us last year with Besiktas and they put in a really good performance in both games.
“We have to be prepared to look at our own performance and I’m sure we can get the three points.”
Mignolet has yet to concede a goal in 2015-16, mirroring the Reds’ start two years ago, when three straight clean sheets set the groundwork for a successful season.
The Belgian is hoping for more of the same today so that Rodgers’ charges can return from international duty with a firm platform in place.
He added: “Building into the season, your start is always important. Hopefully we can win against West Ham and then when we come back from the international break, we can kick on.
“To start well is always nice and it gives you that confidence boost, for all the new lads as well, and we can build on that.”