• Premier League

West Ham hit back at Gerrard claims

West Ham have rejected claims by Steven Gerrard that they employed underhand tactics to try and rattle Liverpool during their visit to Upton Park.

Liverpool ran out 2-1 winners at the weekend, but captain Gerrard says West Ham "tried everything" to make their trip to east London as unsettling as possible.

West Ham chairman David Gold took to Twitter to hit back at Gerrard, who had claimed Liverpool were forced to park their team bus "a mile away" from the stadium, after a picture emerged of the vehicle parked directly outside the Upton Park gates.

Gerrard had also complained that their hosts had turned up the heating in the away dressing room on purpose and made the pitch dry to stifle Liverpool's usual passing game.

Mr Gerrard nobody force your bus driver to park a mile away from the ground, it was his choice. If the heating is too warm, turn it down. dg— David Gold (@davidgold) April 8, 2014

The Daily Mail report that the Liverpool team bus driver opted to pull up outside the ground after being unable to reverse park into the first-team car park at the Boleyn Ground.

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West Ham also released a statement regarding the incident on their official website. It read: "The unusual parking location is estimated to have added around 20 metres to the usual walk from the coach door to the Players' entrance.

"Once the Liverpool players and staff had safely disembarked, the coach was moved into the Players' Car Park, where it remained before collecting them after the game.

"Another suggestion was that the visitors were housed in a 'hot' dressing room, which caused some bemusement as West Ham staff received no complaint about the temperature from the visitors. Of course, West Ham staff would have been happy to turn up the air conditioning at our opponents' request.

"Finally, the consistent overnight rain that fell on the Boleyn Ground on Saturday meant that the 'dry' playing surface might have been a little wetter than was suggested.

"West Ham United make every provision for visiting staff, players and supporters at the Boleyn Ground and are proud of the East End welcome the Club provides."

Liverpool team coach... pic.twitter.com/j3BkhOUVH5— Jack Lebeau (@JackLebeau66) April 6, 2014

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