Liverpool faced off against West Ham United at the London Stadium earlier this evening as they looked to earn all three points on the road. Both sides fought tooth and nail in the first 45 minutes but didn’t have the quality to break each other down as they went into the half-time break with a goalless scoreline.
The Reds finally managed to make the breakthrough in the 57th minute courtesy of a wonderful solo finish from Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian winger struck again just 11 minutes later when he found the back of the net from close range after some sensational build-up play from his teammates.
Georginio Wijnaldum added another goal in the 84th minute for the Merseyside outfit before Craig Dawson got a consolation goal for the Hammers from a corner. The contest ended with Jurgen Klopp’s men securing a comfortable 3-1 victory at the English capital.
Let’s take a look at how each Liverpool player fared during the match against the Hammers.
GK: Alisson Becker – 6.5/10
The Brazilian keeper came out of his goal to make some important clearances. He didn’t have too many saves to make but will be disappointed after conceding a late goal which extinguished his hopes of a clean sheet.
RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold – 7.5/10
The English right-back played some incredible diagonal crosses during the game and played a big part in the lead-up to Salah’s second goal. He is slowly but surely getting back to his best.
CB: Nathaniel Phillips – 7/10
He won a few important aerial duels and did enough to neutralise the threat of Michail Antonio during the 90 minutes.
CB: Jordan Henderson – 7.5/10
The Liverpool captain bossed the game from the back and did enough work defensively to restrict the Hammers to just one goal.
LB: Andrew Robertson – 6.5/10
The Scottish full-back was defensively solid and made quite a few crucial clearances at the back. However, he struggled to make an impact in the final third due to Divock Origi’s inability to hold on to the ball.
CM: James Milner – 6.5/10
Milner fought for every loose possession at the centre of the park and helped his teammates dominate the game.
CM: Georginio Wijnaldum – 8/10
The Dutch midfielder kept possession ticking in midfield and got himself a deserved goal in the 84th minute, which put the game to bed.
CM: Thiago Alcantara – 8/10
The Spaniard ran the show from midfield and played some sublime passes in the final third. He also got stuck in with a few hard tackles to disrupt West Ham’s counterattacks.
RW: Xherdan Shaqiri – 7/10
The Swiss international struggled at times to get himself involved in the game. However, he was excellent in the second half and picked out Salah’s run with a wonderful cross in the lead-up to Liverpool’s second goal of the game.
ST: Mohamed Salah – 9/10
The Egyptian attacker hardly got a sniff at goal in the first 45 minutes. However, Salah scored two great goals after the half-time interval which ended up making the difference this evening.
LW: Divock Origi – 6/10
The Belgian international gave away the ball far too often in the first half. He was also guilty of squandering some decent chances during the game but deserves credit for being a nuisance for the Hammers defenders.
Substitutes:
CM: Curtis Jones – 7.5/10
The English midfield ace made an immediate impact as he came on to set-up Salah’s first goal. He also had a hand in the build-up to Wijnaldum’s late goal.
ST: Roberto Firmino – 7/10
The Brazilian striker showed his unselfish nature by setting up Wijnaldum, who scored Liverpool’s third goal in the 84th minute.
CAM: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – 7/10
He came off the bench and played a significant role in the build-up to Wijnaldum’s goal.
