A superb away performance from Liverpool saw them put five past West Ham, with five different scorers. Ruthless in possession, and particularly on the break, Arne Slot’s men, 3-0 up at the interval, could surely have run up a cricket score. Mo Salah, brilliant in the capital once again, was the architect of West Ham’s defeat.
Dominant from the outset, Liverpool should have taken the lead inside five minutes; Salah hitting the goalkeeper from close range. Further chances were missed as an abject West Ham looked there for the taking, but it was 30 minutes before Liverpool deservedly took the lead, Luiz Diaz taking full advantage of a kind deflection on the edge of the box before slotting home.
There’d be two more behalf half-time, but perhaps it might have been different had Kudos, the home side’s main threat throughout, beaten both Alisson and the upright. The ball, however, struck the post and, with Salah giving Bassaka a torrid time out wide, it was just a few short minutes before Liverpool scored a second through Cody Gakpo, before Salah himself put the game beyond doubt. His shot nestled into the far corner, when perhaps the goalkeeper should have done better.
The second half became little more than a training exercise for the league leaders. For West Ham, it looked like it could get ugly, as Trent Alexander-Arnold’s deflected effort flew into the net with more than 30 minutes remaining. Four-nil down and showing very little resilience or appetite for the game, the Hammers must have feared a mauling.
Liverpool of course, did score another, putting five past their opponents from the London Stadium for the second time this season. Perhaps though, the entirely understandable changes made by Slot in bringing on Wataru Endo, Harvey Elliott and Diogo Jota, slightly interrupted the rhythm, but having seen Joe Gomez leave the field in the first half, with what looked like a hamstring injury, the substitutions protected some against enforced suspension.
It was one of those brought on in the final quarter of the game, that scored the fifth. This time Jota was the grateful recipient of yet another Salah assist, following a counter-attack. Meanwhile, West Ham struck the woodwork for the third time in the final minutes but were ruthlessly put to the sword by a Liverpool team who took maximum points over Christmas.
As Liverpool head into 2025 top of the league and, with a beleaguered Manchester United next up at Anfield, it really looks like it could be a very happy New Year in the red half of Merseyside.
