Liverpool 5 West Ham 1: Hammers gifted early lead but made to pay for mistakes by Arne Slot’s classy forwards
MO SALAH got the job done for Arne Slot in yet another Liverpool display that will have left the new boss thinking that his glass was only half full.
The scoreline may suggest that West Ham was overpowered by the ten–time winners.
But until Salah popped up to claim his fourth goal of the campaign in the 74th minute, Slot will have felt far from comfortable.
Edson Alvarez was then red-carded and from that point on it all turned into a cakewalk with Cody Gakpo bagging a double.
The Hammers took a 21st-minute lead before Diogo Jota’s brace put his side ahead, but for quite a while, there were plenty of anxious faces on the Kop.
Slot made nine changes from the side that beat Bournemouth 3 – 0 at the weekend and but the start still portrayed a worrying trend for him.
Once again there was a sluggish start, once again his rear guard looked vulnerable.
The Hammers, with only three retained from the team that was battered 3-0 by Chelsea, created a collection of early frights.
And in the 18th minute, former Red Danny Ings netted, only for his strike to be ruled offside.
Slot went into his first Carabao Cup clash as Anfield boss, admitting that while his first six games in charge had seen only two goals conceded, he wasn’t that convinced.
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Julen Lopetegui’s side is very much not in the top half, yet three minutes after Ings’ disappointment, they were ahead amidst a shambles in front of Kelleher.
Aaron Cresswell’s corner caused panic in the home box, ending with a hack from left-back Kostas Tsimikas that flew in off Jarrell Quansah’s shin.
Slot would have been fretting, even if Jota did collect the equaliser in the 25th minute.
Gakpo swung in a cross from the left, met by Federico Chiesa, given his full debut after arriving from Juventus for £10M in the summer.
The Italian tried an acrobatic strike which, while off target, was met by the rising Jota who buried his header.
The Portuguese made it two in the 49th minute, sweeping home his third goal of the campaign with a low right footer.
Stylish though the finish was from just inside the box, a lot of credit had to go to Jones.
The midfielder who says he’s “never been happier” at Anfield picked the ball up on the edge of his own box.
A driving 50-yard run later, he played the sweetest of one-twos with Gakpo before a perfect touch set up Jota.
Slot replaced the Portuguese and Chiesa for Mo Salah and Alexis MacAllister but it was one of Lopetegui’s subs who rattled the Kop cage.
He motored forward in the 66th minute to lash a shot that Kelleher did extremely well to parry.
But had Max Kilman kept his head and controlled his feet he’d have levelled from close range.
Lopetegui was then booked for getting too lippy after desperate appeals for a penalty were denied.
With no VAR, referee Andy Madeley rejected the argument that Tsimikas used his arms to deflect a cross from Vladimir Coufal.
And just as West Ham thought they might yet create a shock, there was Salah to settle the issue.
Bradley cut the ball back for MacAllister, whose shot was parried by Lukasz Fabianski.
But the ball landed straight at Salah’s feet, and his volley left the goalkeeper for dead.
Alvarez headed for the tunnel a couple of minutes later after a poor challenge on Salah that produced a second yellow, before Gakpo added to Hammers’ pain with a late, late double.