Match reportLiverpool score five in victory over West Ham at Anfield
First-half goals by Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister put the Reds into a commanding lead at the break, before Tomas Soucek pulled one back for the visitors in the opening stages of the second period.
Cody Gakpo then made it 4-1 prior to Valentin Castellanos again reducing West Ham’s arrears, and the scoring was rounded off in the closing stages when Jeremie Frimpong’s cross was inadvertently diverted into his own net by Axel Disasi.
In the Premier League, Arne Slot’s side are now level on points with fourth-placed Manchester United, who play on Sunday, and three behind Aston Villa in third.
Team
Joe Gomez came in for Curtis Jones in the only Liverpool change from last weekend’s win at Nottingham Forest.
Liverpool: Alisson, Gomez (Frimpong, 75), Van Dijk, Konate, Kerkez, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Salah, Gakpo, Ekitike (Ngumoha, 75), Gravenberch (Nyoni, 86).
Unused subs: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Chiesa, Jones, Robertson, Ramsay.
First half
It took only five minutes for Liverpool to go ahead through Ekitike.
West Ham were unable to clear their lines from a corner and Ryan Gravenberch found Ekitike in the area, the forward taking a touch before burying a half-volley into the near bottom corner.
The visitors’ response included a couple of set-pieces from which Konstantinos Mavropanos missed half-chances to equalise and, soon after, it was 2-0.
Dominik Szoboszlai delivered an inswinging corner and Van Dijk glanced home with a near-post header.
Alert defending by Ibrahima Konate was required to thwart Crysencio Summervillle after a loose Gravenberch pass had been intercepted by Jarrod Bowen.
And then, at the other end, another set-piece resulted in another Liverpool goal. Mohamed Salah took the corner this time and the ball found its way to Ekitike at the back post.
The No.22 showed awareness and technique to cushion a lay-off into Mac Allister, who dispatched a perfectly executed volley high into the net.
Second half
West Ham caught the Reds cold at the beginning of the second half as Soucek slid home El Hadji Malick Diouf’s low cross.
Gakpo missed a huge chance to quickly restore Liverpool’s three-goal cushion – the No.18 skewing wide from close range – and Alisson Becker then stopped a speculative hit from distance by Mateus Fernandes.
And, with 20 minutes left to play, the comfort of the Reds’ advantage was increased again by Gakpo, who shimmied in-field and finished into the bottom corner.
A brilliant fingertip save by Alisson prevented Summerville from scoring but, from the resulting corner, Castellanos nodded in to make it 4-2.
After five games out due to injury, Frimpong returned from the bench and made an immediate impact as Disasi redirected his delivery past goalkeeper Mads Hermansen to complete the scoring.
Attendance: 60,425