Monday 26 February 2018

Reds Bash Hammers 4-1 At Anfield

Sports - Football - Premier League - LFC 4:1 WHU

Liverpool's front trio were at it again as they thrashed West Ham 4-1 at Anfield on Saturday afternoon to bring the Reds' goal total to 103 in all competitions this season, just behind league leaders Manchester City (111).



Click here for my live ByTheMinute match coverage.

The Hammers were unbeaten in their previous three away games in all competitions against LFC.

However, their only victory in the previous 48 attempts at Anfield came in August 2015 (D14, L33).

And it stayed that way as Liverpool took the visitors to bits, starting with Emre Can heading in a corner with just under half an hour gone.

Man of the match Mohamed Salah and Marko Arnautovic had both hit the woodwork earlier on in a competitive start.

Loris Karius denied the West Ham forward a few minutes before the break as well with a top-draw save, keeping a cracker of a right-footed strike out.

The home side took total control after the interval, Salah doubling their lead after some lovely moves and layoff in the build-up by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The Egyptian's low shot on the turn into the right corner of the net was his 20th left-footed goal out of 23, which is a Premier League record.

Roberto Firmino made it three with just under an hour gone, completing one of his cheeky looking-away goals off Can's cross with the Hammers all over the place.

The visitors pulled one back seconds later, sub Michail Antonio sneaking one through Virgil van Dijk's legs seconds after coming on for Manuel Lanzini, fooling and beating Karius to make it 3-1.

But the Reds kept their dominance and composure after those crazy few minutes, which saw three goals in eight minutes to be exact.

With a quarter of an hour to go, Sadio Mané hit the post from close range, but moments later made it four, bouncing the ball in off Andy Robertson's pass.

It's the sixth time this season all three Liverpool forwards have scored in the same match.

Former Everton/United/Sunderland and now West Ham boss David Moyes kept his record of no wins at Anfield after 15 games (D7, L8), leaving his substitutions too little too late.

The Hammers' most top-flight defeats have come against the Merseyside clubs: 61 by Liverpool and 61 against Everton.

Reds boss Jürgen Klopp was understandably a very happy man(ager), the win taking his side past Manchester United and up to second (at least temporarily until the Red Devils beat Chelsea on Sunday).

With this thrashing, the Reds scored four goals in three consecutive games against a single opponent for the first time since facing Norwich between 2012 and 2013.

The next visitors at Anfield are going to be former LFC boss Rafael Benítez's Newcastle on Saturday evening. And then the Reds will travel to Old Trafford the week after - crunch time to decide who will come closest to league leaders City!

Liverpool Goals: Can 29', Salah 51', Firmino 57' & Mané 77'.

West Ham Goal: Antonio 59'.

HT Stats: LFC 1-0 WHU
Possession: 66%-34%
Shots: 8-5
On target: 3-3
Corners: 6-1
Fouls: 4-5
Yellow cards: 0-1

FT Stats: LFC 4-1 WHU
Shots: 21-7
On target: 12-4
Corners: 8-2
Fouls: 7-6
Yellow cards: 0-2

LFC Team: 1 Karius, 66 Alexander-Arnold, 32 Matip, 4 van Dijk, 26 Robertson, 21 Oxlade-Chamberlain, 23 Can, 7 Milner, 11 Salah (29 Solanke 88'), 9 Firmino (20 Lallana 82'), 19 Mané (18 Moreno 87'). 4-3-3
Subs not used: 6 Lovren, 12 Gomez, 14 Henderson, 22 Mignolet.

WHU Team: 13 Adrián, 5 Zabaleta, 19 Collins (booked 43'), 21 Ogbonna, 3 Cresswell, 27 Evra, 18 João Mário (41 Rice 83'), 8 Kouyaté (booked 47'), 16 Noble, 10 Lanzini (30 Antonio 58'), 7 Arnautovic (17 Hernández 83'). 3-4-3
Subs not used: 2 Reid, 12 Hugill, 22 Byram, 25 Hart.

Referee: Stuart Attwell
Man of the match: Mohamed Salah
Ground: Anfield
Attendance: 53,256

Click here for my previous LFC match report.

All pictures, facts and stats were taken from the BBC match report, Twitter and SFR coverage.

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