Liverpool recorded a emphatic 5-0 win at West Ham United in London on Sunday afternoon, moving them eight points clear at the top of the Premier League.
The Reds’ final fixture of 2024 has been painted in an unmistakable shade of colour Mohamed Salah. After Luis Diaz forced the visitors into the lead in the 30th minute, Liverpool’s talisman advanced through midfield, passing for Cody Jacobo before finding the back of the net himself in a dominant first half. Trent Alexander-Arnold made it 4-0 after the break, while Salah set up Diogo Jota’s fifth goal late on.
While the Hammers put up little resistance, Liverpool cannot be criticized for beating their hapless hosts with such force.
How the game unfolded
West Ham coach Julen Lopetegui was asked if it was “scary” to face A Liverpool The side is such an inevitability of form ahead of kick-off on Sunday. “Are we afraid?” The Spanish coach replied, somewhat surprised by the questioning style. “no.” Maybe they should have been.
Liverpool had it West Ham They crept into their own half from the first whistle. The only surprising aspect of a laughably lopsided match that saw the Reds lead 3-0 at half-time was that it took them up to 30 minutes to break the deadlock.
Finally, Luis Diaz found a way beyond flexibility, bringing back Alphonse Areola. A roving destroyer through his false nine role, the Colombian drifted between the widening gaps separating West Ham’s attacking and midfield lines, inadvertently bouncing the ball off Vladimir Coufal before shaking off an instinctive touch.
Salah quickly got into the act. The regally in-form Egyptian had the presence of mind to leave the ball over the top for Diaz, where he was offside, before getting cut off by his team-mate. A deft turn – which, if deliberate, resembled Dennis Bergkamp – allowed him to pass Cody Jacobo to score the second goal of the game in the 40th minute.
Liverpool’s talisman added a third goal himself just before half-time. Alexis McAllister stole Carlos Soler’s slow pass inside West Ham’s defensive third and quickly passed the ball through Curtis Jones to reach Salah, who carelessly scored his 20th goal of the season into the bottom corner.
Lopetegui, growing more fearful after 45 minutes of play, resorted to damage control. Despite having an extra defensive body in the back five, no one could get close enough to Trent Alexander-Arnold, who fired a shot from the top of the box past Areola via a deflection.
As Slot emptied the bench and looked to a busy January on the horizon, Diogo Jota looked to add to his individual goal tally. Catching another perfect pass from Salah – who else? – The Portuguese substitute curled in a shot in Liverpool’s fifth half of the afternoon.
Check out West Ham and Liverpool player ratings here.
“We have to make our own history,” Alisson told his teammates before the weekend’s match. Salah did this in every match. The 32-year-old immortal notched his 20th goal of the season on Sunday – the eighth successive season in which the powerful winger (rather than the striker) has achieved that historic number of goals, a feat not even Ian Rush could achieve at Liverpool. .
Lopetegui may have pretended to be unfazed before the match, but he lined up with two full-backs on Salah’s preferred right wing. Neither Emerson nor Aaron Wan-Bissaka were able to reach the Egyptian maestro throughout the 90 minutes. By switching to a back five in the second half, Lopetegui gave Salah a new shape to break through.
Even in the midst of the emotions that grip a player after scoring a goal, Alexander-Arnold found the composure to send a message with his celebration. He raised his right hand to his ear in the universal sign of talking too much, the soon-to-be free agent clearly tired of hearing about his uncertain future.
In the days before Liverpool’s defeat in London, two reports from Spain claimed Alexander-Arnold told the club he He wanted to move to Real Madrid And the deal to join the Spanish League champions on a free transfer next summer was 90% done..
All this speculation has not affected the 26-year-old’s remarkably mature form this season. The roving right-back, who has played with the handbrake for most of Slott’s reign, was given space to roam in the capital, stepping into the final third to score Diaz’s opener and score Liverpool’s fourth himself.
However, West Ham’s inept defensive alertness would have given Alexander-Arnold enough time to consider Real Madrid’s supposed display in the middle of the pitch before he scored his first goal of the season.
West Ham fans who were still inside the London Stadium to see Mohamed Kuddus being substituted in the final 10 minutes of Sunday’s match gave a round of applause to their entertaining boss.
It was the least Kudos deserved after creating a single furrow as the only source of any vague attacking threat coming from a player dressed in dark red and blue. Driving up the pitch and away from Andy Robertson, who during his eighth season at Liverpool always seemed to stumble on the verge of falling over without hitting the ground, Kudus hit the base of Alisson’s post with West Ham trailing by just one goal.
The Ghana international was denied by the crossbar (and the offside flag) again in the second half, and hit the woodwork more times than any other player in the Premier League this season. Even with Kudos’ slightly miscalibrated radar allocation, he is still West Ham’s strongest attacking force.
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