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Stewart Downing admitted West Ham took inspiration from Aston Villa in how to deal with Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.
Villa successfully shackled the 34-year-old midfielder in their shock 1-0 win at Anfield last week — and the Hammers adopted a similar approach in Saturday’s 3-1 win against Liverpool.
“We saw the way Aston Villa did it and I think there will be other teams, apart from us, who will play that way because Steven is a world-class player,” said Downing.
“If you give him time he can hit wonder balls and put players like Raheem Sterling in. I think we frustrated him a little bit.”
West Ham v Liverpool - player ratings
Hammers boss Sam Allardyce added: “Our tactic was to close down Steven Gerrard. That was Stewart’s job and not only did he do that but he was so creative as well.
“He was fantastic. He gets more touches of the ball in that position and I am sure he is enjoying it.”
