Liverpool climbed to fifth place in the Premier League after a convincing 5–2 win over West Ham at Anfield. It was their fourth straight win in all competitions.
The home side made a perfect start, scoring after just five minutes. Ryan Gravenberch played a clever pass into the box for Hugo Ekitike, who finished calmly past Mads Hermansen for his 11th league goal of the season.
Liverpool doubled their lead midway through the first half. A superb corner from Dominik Szoboszlai caused problems in the West Ham defence, and Virgil van Dijk headed in from close range to put the Reds in control.
West Ham tried to respond and almost pulled one back before half-time, but Alisson Becker made an important save to deny Tomáš Souček. Liverpool then showed their quality again just before the break. Ekitike set up Alexis Mac Allister from a corner, and the Argentine smashed the ball home to make it 3–0.
West Ham came out fighting after the restart and scored four minutes into the second half. El Hadji Malick Diouf played the ball across goal and Souček finished well to give the visitors hope.
Liverpool should have added a fourth soon after, but Cody Gakpo somehow missed an open chance at the far post. He quickly made up for it, though, cutting inside from the left and placing his shot into the bottom corner after being set up by Ekitike.
With 15 minutes left, West Ham scored again when Taty Castellanos was left unmarked and headed past Alisson. However, any hopes of a comeback ended shortly after. Axel Disasi accidentally turned Jeremie Frimpong’s cross into his own net to make it 5–2.
The win boosts Liverpool’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. West Ham remain in the relegation zone and are still two points from safety.
