Here are the Liverpool player ratings after the 3-1 win against West Ham United.
Goals from Mohamed Salah (2) and Gini Wijnaldum gave Liverpool a crucial three points away in London against West Ham.
Liverpool was without Sadio Mane after the Senegalese international picked up a minor muscular injury at Tottenham. Fellow front-three comrade and goal scorer in North London Roberto Firmino was dropped to the bench in favour of Divock Origi. Jurgen Klopp had tweaked the team into a diamond formation.
The first half was cagey in parts, with Alisson and Lukasz Fabianski largely untested by either sides’ attacks. Origi slid in late on and put just wide, with Mo Salah stinging the Pole’s gloves with the last action of it.
The Reds’ weren’t in a penetrative mood in the opening 45 but came out in the second in a dominant fashion. Despite West Ham’s constant threat from set-pieces, Liverpool took the lead. Who else but Salah?
After Curtis Jones’s excellent mazy run, he set up the Egyptian to curl in a peach into the top corner. Typical, vintage Salah.
West Ham’s set-pieces were their biggest route to goal, but in this particular instance, it led to a Liverpool one. Trent Alexander-Arnold pinged a delightful ball to Xherdan Shaqiri who found Mo, with an exquisite touch and popped it home with delight.
End-to-end. Brilliant.
The Reds grabbed a third when substitutes Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Roberto Firmino combined to find Gini Wijnaldum, who had the easiest of tasks thanks to the Brazilian’s brilliance.
West Ham pulled one back through Craig Dawson, but didn’t at all threaten Liverpool’s superiority.
Liverpool player ratings vs West Ham
Here are the player ratings, starting with the goalkeeper.
Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker – 6
Pretty standard for Alisson. He couldn’t do anything about the West Ham goal, and did well at the points required. Not much more needs to be said.