After beating Leicester on Boxing Day, Liverpool traveled to the London Stadium to face West Ham United, winners of Southampton in midweek. Faced with HammersArne Slot decided to put Luis Díaz in place of Núñez. For the rest, the Dutch coach left with the 10 players who played midweek. Julen Lopetegui decided to align Wan-Bissaka, usual right back, on the left lane, and to integrate Emerson into the attacking quartet.
It didn’t take long for Liverpool to become dangerous. After a very good ball from Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah came up against Alphonse Aréola after a first-intention strike with his left foot (8th). The French international then repelled attempts from Jones (15th) and Luis Díaz (23rd). The Colombian international finally managed to beat the former Paris Saint-Germain player with a low shot off the post to open the scoring (30th, 0-1). Ten minutes later, West Ham were punished a second time. After finding Alisson’s left post on a shot from Kudus (38th), the Hammers conceded Gakpo’s goal, after great work from Salah (40th, 0-2). The Egyptian international also scored his goal – his 17th in 17 league matches – to weigh down the scoreboard (43rd, 0-3). After 45 minutes of play, Slot’s team had made short work of Lopetegui’s team. The only downside: the injury exit of Joe Gomez, replaced by Jarell Quansah (37th).
Liverpool are unstoppable
Returning from the locker room, West Ham tried to come back with better intentions. But Liverpool were far too strong. Free from any marking in the axis, Trent Alexander-Arnold unleashed a long shot from the right. Deflected by Mavropanos, the ball then ended up in the back of Areola’s net (54th, 0-4). Slot’s troops then kept the pressure on Areola’s goal. West Ham tried to save the honor, via Kudus, but the Ghana international’s head hit the crossbar (75th). Finally, after a new counter-attack led by Salah, Jota found the opposite corner of Areola to conclude (84th, 0-5).
This large victory (0-5) allows Liverpool to temporarily take an eight-point lead over its runner-up Nottingham Forest in the Premier League standings. THE Reds still have a late match to play against Everton in the coming weeks. As for West Ham, this new defeat does not suit Julen Lopetegui, whose place is more threatened than ever.
