Liverpool opened up an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League table with a ridiculously comfortable 5-0 win away at West Ham on Sunday. The Reds made the most of facing a Hammers team stuck in an identity crisis and tore Julen Lopetegui’s side to shreds on a bitter evening in the east end of London.
On the half-hour mark, Liverpool deservedly went in front. Luis Diaz tried to slip through Curtis Jones, only for Vladimir Coufal to block the pass. However, the ball fell kindly for the Colombian again as he bulldozed his way into the penalty area, and he left Alphonse Areola flat-footed with a strike at the near post.
From out of nothing, West Ham nearly pulled level. Mohammed Kudus breezed his way infield and let fly 25 yards from goal, striking the frame of the post to the relief of the beaten Alisson. And the Hammers were made to pay immediately as Liverpool doubled their lead with their next attack, as Alexis Mac Allister’s high pass over the West Ham backline appeared destined for the offside Mohamed Salah, but he let the ball run for Diaz instead. The Reds’ No.7 played Salah in when he returned to an onside position and chopped his way inside, where he was met by a barrage of panicked defenders, before Cody Gakpo reacted quickly to turn the ball past Areola.
Salah managed to get in on the act with a goal of his own before the half-time whistle. West Ham lost possession in their own half, with Jones quickly finding Salah free on the edge of the box, and he calmly passed the ball in to send the home fans straight to the concourses.
Areola denied Salah a brace straight out of the blocks for the second half after the Egyptian broke West Ham’s shoddy offside trap as Liverpool sought to add to their first-half helpings. Indeed, the visitors soon had their fourth, courtesy of a deflected Trent Alexander-Arnold strike, with his 25-yard effort cannoning in off the head of Maximilian Kilman.
Some understandably slack Liverpool defending saw Kudus allowed a free header from the penalty spot late in the day, yet he could only find the woodwork again as this time his effort bounced off the bar. Salah, mercifully, skied over from a similar distance from the next passage of play with a wicked half-volley.
But the Egyptian was in no mood to let West Ham off any lighter when he turned on the style for his side’s fifth, carrying the ball 50 yards up the pitch before releasing Diogo Jota to score with a fine finish, wrapping up the scoring for good.
GOAL rates Liverpool’s players from London Stadium…