Liverpool 2-3 West Bromwich Albion: Valiant Baggies dump Reds out of FA Cup in VAR-dominated affair

Full-time: Liverpool 2-3 West Bromwich Albion.

A valiant Baggies performance sees them cause quite an upset at Anfield. Rodriguez's brace and Dawson's strike proved too much for Liverpool, who took the lead through Firmino before halving the deficit through Salah.

Milner picks out Van Dijk but the Dutchman's header is saved by Foster. That looks like all she wrote for Liverpool.

West Brom have two players in Livermore and Evans who are simply passengers now. The pair have picked up injuries but are manfully soldiering on. 90 seconds left.

Rodriguez tries to waste valuable seconds by the Liverpool corner flag as we enter four minutes of stoppage time.

Moreno miskicks a cross into the Kop, and gets a stern telling off from those in the stand.

Foster is catching everything that dares to enter his penalty area at the moment.

His latest pull out of the sky is Firmino's deflected effort. He has been instrumental to the Baggies' impressive performance tonight.

Inge stretches West Brom and almost makes the most of Hegazi's indecisiveness but the Egyptian manages to recover.

Foster is now doing his level best to eat away as many seconds as possible. Less than five minutes of normal time remaining.

Alexander-Arnold's cross rebounds kindly off Firmino to Salah, who finishes with consummate ease to leave Foster raging and Liverpool with a lifeline.

GOAL! Liverpool 2-3 West Brom (Salah)

Incredible double save from Foster! He palms away Ings' effort before reshaping his body to deny Milner again, though the linesman did have his flag up.

Liverpool's best chance of the second half comes from Milner, who stings the palms of Foster with a strong drive. The West Brom stopper saved well, but it's one he is expected to make.

West Brom make their third and final change - veteran Gareth Barry is replaced by Claudio Yacob.

Jeers echo all around the Kop as a lack of communication between Matip and Mignolet almost give away a needless corner.

At the other end, Ings goes down under pressure from Foster, but Liverpool do not win a second penalty.

Mane, Can and Oxlade-Chamberlain off, Milner, Ings and Henderson on. 25 minutes remaining.

An amazing piece of play from Chris Brunt - the Northern Irishman juggled the ball on the floor before setting Matty Phillips away. Phillips beat Alexander-Arnold for pace, but he couldn't beat Mignolet.

Triple change for Liverpool - Milner, Ings and Henderson all coming on imminently.

Brunt sets Phillips away and the Scot is all too eager to dart into space. His cross is good, but Livermore can't direct it goalwards.

Liverpool surge forward in desperate hope of a way back into this match, but they encounter a number of West Brom bodies every time they venture around the penalty area.

Mane does manage to win a foul from Evans, but Alexander-Arnold's effort is deflected behind for a corner.

Alexander-Arnold miscontrols a simple pass and sums up Liverpool's night in mere seconds.

West Brom sing 'Sacked in the morning' to Klopp. Obviously that won't be the case, but it's another blot in the German's coffee book at Anfield so far.

My word. West Brom have the ball in the net for the fifth time tonight, but the linesman's flag is up.

Brunt's volley was nodded in by an offside Dawson. The referee used VAR to confirm though, despite Dawson being almost behind Mignolet when Brunt's volley came in.

West Brom have a chance to extend their lead as Phillips races away from Van Dijk and tries to chip Mignolet, who managed to prevent and smother.

Liverpool go up the other end and win a corner, but the Baggies boot it away.

Rodriguez gets the match back underway. Will we see more VAR, a stunning Liverpool comeback, or will West Brom run riot?

But we've also had quite a bit of this. What a match so far.

We've had a lot of this...

Half-time: Liverpool 1-3 West Brom

Well, after all that, we come to halt.

Liverpool took the lead through Firmino, West Brom levelled and went in front through Rodriguez, VAR, VAR, VAR, VAR, VAR, VAR, Dawson made it three.

A surreal 45 minute of football, but let's break it down to brass tax - Liverpool have it all to do.

It stands! West Brom have a two-goal cushion!

Krychowiak's lofted ball finds Dawson, and his cross-cum-shot is turned with the help of Matip, who couldn't sort his feet out.

Hang on. It looks like we're going to VAR again. Christ almighty. A possible offside is being investigated.

GOAL! Liverpool 1-3 West Brom (Dawson)

Four minutes of added time here, thanks in no small part to VAR and West Brom's injuries.

Krychowiak is caught in possession and allows Liverpool to spring an immediate attack through Firmino and Salah, who races past his compatriot before hitting the side netting.

Alexander-Arnold stings the palms of Foster with a shot from outside the box.

Hegazi is now on for Gibbs, but West Brom look set to be forced into another change; Robson Kanu's race is run, Phillips will take his place.

Play is stopped as Gibbs receives treatment for what looks like a pulled hamstring. He cannot continue, so Hegazi, a centre-back, will come on in his place. A defensive reshuffle required for the Baggies.

A long ball over the top is latched onto by Salah but his touch takes him away from goal. Firmino picks up on the Egyptian's drilled effort, but his shot is blocked by Evans for a corner.

Firmino misses, he hits the bar! After all that, he didn't even have the decency to score. It remains 2-1 to West Brom.

After all that... PENALTY TO LIVERPOOL!

Wow. We're going to VAR again here. Salah tangled with Livermore in the penalty area, and referee Craig Pawson is conferring with an official based in Heathrow.

Pawson is now going to review the footage for himself. This is all a bit new isn't it. We're watching a man watch the match we're watching.

Liverpool look to take advantage of VAR's ruling through Salah and Mane, but the former's effort goes well over the bar.

The goal doesn't stand! VAR has ruled Dawson's header out as Barry was deemed to be interfering with play from an offside position.

GOAL! Liverpool 1-3 West Brom (Dawson)

A corner from Brunt is nodded in by Dawson from all of two yards... but the goal may not stand as it's going to VAR.

Liverpool look to respond with a corner, but Foster comes and claims with little fuss. Gibbs then surges forward and shoots well over the bar.

The game seems to be settling down after a mad opening quarter of an hour, but Rodriguez is certainly the man of the moment.

Here he is again, it's astonishing!

Krychowiak evades Can and finds Gibbs out wide. The left-back's low first-time cross picks out Rodriguez superbly, and the forward makes no mistake as he fires past Mignolet for the second time in four minutes.

Can he score a hat-trick in front of the Kop? It seems only a matter of time!

GOAL! Liverpool 1-2 West Brom (Rodriguez)

Two goals in 68 seconds here at Anfield!

A mix-up between Evans and Foster is pounced on by Salah, whose saved shot travels into the path of Firmino, who chipped the ball deftly into the net.

The celebrations lasted mere seconds though, as Rodriguez takes control of a pass from Brunt and leathers the ball into the top corner. Mignolet had no chance.

Quite the start!

GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 West Bromwich Albion (Rodriguez)

GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 West Brom (Firmino)

After absorbing early pressure West Brom come forward through Brunt, whose cross is too high for Robson-Kanu and Rodriguez.

We are underway at Anfield. Firmino already on the ball in the area but West Brom manage to retrieve and maintain possession.

The teams are in the famous Anfield tunnel. Kick-off just moments away.

Virgil van Dijk became an instant Liverpool when headed the Reds into the fourth round on his debut for the club. He will hope to repeat those exploits and atone for the error he made which led to Swansea's goal on Monday.

Less than half an hour remaining until kick-off now. A reminder of today's teams:

Liverpool: Mignolet; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Moreno; Can, Wijnaldum, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Mane, Salah, Firmino.

West Brom: Foster, Nyom, Evans, Dawson, Brunt, Gibbs, Livermore, Barry, Krychowiak, Rodriguez, Robson-Kanu.

Will The Kop rock or be rocked tonight? West Brom did well to mute the famous stand last month.

Daniel Sturridge has once again been excluded from a match-day squad by Jurgen Klopp.

The 28-year-old is looking to leave Anfield before the close of the transfer window, but interested parties Inter Milan and Sevilla have not struck an agreement with the Reds just yet.

Has Sturridge played his last match for Liverpool, and would the Reds be right to sell him?

Jurgen Klopp has discussed his team selection:

"It's a big competition for us, we like it, so we always want to go through.

"I remember two years ago when we lost at West Ham [in the FA Cup], it felt like we had 500 games, so we needed to make more changes with the semi-final of the League Cup etc.

"So we didn't make many changes tonight, no need for that, we picked the strongest side we could have picked.

"I'm happy about the line-up but the performance is much more important and that's what we have to make sure of now."

Liverpool will no doubt be happy to see Alberto Moreno and Jordan Henderson back in the match-day squad. The pair returned to training after recovering from ankle and hamstring injuries, though Klopp is keen to be careful with Henderson.

Liverpool have gone full-strength tonight as they look to edge one step closer to FA Cup glory. West Brom, beset by illness, have still managed to put out a strong team, though Rondon, Hegazi and Phillips have been taken out of the firing line.

SUBSTITUTES

Liverpool: Ward, Gomez, Lovren, Ings, Solanke, Milner, Henderson.

SUBSTITUTES

West Brom: Myhill, Jacob, Rondon, Phillips, Hegazi, Burke.

TEAM NEWS

West Brom's line-up in text form: Foster, Nyom, Evans, Dawson, Brunt, Gibbs, Livermore, Barry, Krychowiak, Rodriguez, Robson-Kanu.

TEAM NEWS

Liverpool's starting line-up in text form: Mignolet; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Moreno; Can, Wijnaldum, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Mane, Salah, Firmino.

Apologies for the delay in team news, slight technical difficulties here.

TEAM NEWS

TEAM NEWS

Does Klopp need to win the FA Cup to stay in his job? John Toshack insinuates he does...

"I think at Liverpool it's about winning trophies," the Welshman told Goal.com. "He [Klopp] seems a bright, happy-go-lucky type who obviously was successful at the last club he was in, in Germany but... I think this year, or by the end of next season, you need to see some kind of trophies there.

"If not, particularly, the way football is these days, I think they'll be looking to change again.

"I think this is a big season for Klopp. When the time comes, middle of May, end of May, will be time to sit back and look."

West Brom boss Alan Pardew may have to ring the changes tonight - illness has affected - or infected - his squad.

"We have got a little bit of the flu bug at the moment and some of the players couldn't train today including McClean, Rodriguez, Foster, Field, Hegazi and McAuley," Pardew said. "We will have to see how they are overnight before assessing the team. Certainly there are enough players available to not have to make too many changes."

Klopp was able to provide some positive news on the Liverpool injury front - Jordan Henderson and Alberto Moreno returned to full training earlier this week and could be included in the squad to face Alan Pardew's side, while defender Dejan Lovren is in contention having recovered from illness.

Klopp also revealed that Nathaniel Clyne is making good progress on his recovery from a back problem, but Ragnar Klavan is still not ready to return after suffering a muscle problem, while vice-captain James Milner is struggling with a dead leg.

"Hendo was not the longest break but it was a long break," Klopp said. "Alberto Moreno is back in training, it's good they're coming back because we need them. There are some other problems,
Milly got a dead leg in training, if he says it's too painful for training you can understand how hard it is.

"Clyney's on a good way but not training with the team. Raggy's out, he was ill and lost a few kilos. He now has a muscle issue, but Dejan [Lovren] is back after illness."

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp will not be able to call upon the services of Adam Lallana, who has suffered another setback in his quest for full fitness.

"Adam Lallana has a little issue which makes him pretty sure out for the next game, Klopp said in his press conference. "It's how it is when you have a long injury, we were hoping to manage it better but we haven't been able to.

"It's a little muscle tear. It's not a big one, the knee is okay. Nobody told me something about his knee."

Lovely backdrop on Merseyside tonight. Will the game itself be as easy on the eye?

Good evening and welcome to IB Times UK's live FA Cup coverage of Liverpool vs West Bromwich Albion.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp will not want a repeat of when the two sides last month; Alan Pardew's side proved to be too resolute for the reds as they earned a 0-0 draw at Anfield.

The struggling Baggies, who have enjoyed a slight upturn in form after going winless for so long, will hope to go one better over Liverpool tonight but a bout of illness could see Pardew forced into a hot of changes.

Liverpool will certainly not want a replay with the Champions League starting soon, and they will hope to get back to winning ways after suffering an embarrassing loss to Swansea City on Monday.

Stay with IB Times UK for team news, updates and live reaction from all the goings on at Anfield.