Liverpool 5-1 West Ham: Slot’s much-changed Reds breeze into 4th round

Arne Slot flexed the strength of his squad as a much-changed Liverpool beat West Ham at Anfield, with a 5-1 win seeing progress to the Carabao Cup fourth round.

Liverpool 5-1 West Ham

Carabao Cup Third Round, Anfield
September 25, 2024

Goals

Quansah OG 21′
Jota 25′ (assist – Chiesa)
Jota 49′ (assist – Jones)
Salah 74′ (assist – none)
Gakpo 90′ (assist – Nunez)
Gakpo 90+3′ (assist – none)

Red card: Alvarez 76′

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With nine changes to his starting lineup and four attackers on the pitch, Slot altered his system against West Ham, with Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez both up front in an energetic, high-pressing 4-4-2.

There was a predictable wait for those selected to find their fluency, and there was an early jolt of sorts as Danny Ings fired in against his former club from an offside position.

The visitors did take the lead soon after, with a scramble in the box following a corner seeing Wataru Endo clear the ball into Jarell Quansah for an unfortunate own goal and 1-0.

It wasn’t long until Liverpool had equalised, with Jota kicking off a stunning break which saw Cody Gakpo cross, Federico Chiesa bundle a volley on goal and the Portuguese rise above Lukasz Fabianski to head in.

Half-time came with the scores level, though the Reds were unsurprisingly in control for the majority of proceedings given the quality on the pitch.

HT: Liverpool 1-1 West Ham

Having gone into half-time level, Liverpool took the lead minutes after the restart from an attack led by the brilliant Curtis Jones, who drove up the pitch, played a one-two and threaded Jota through for a perfect finish.

Two-goal Jota was brought off on the hour with a clear eye on starting against Wolves at the weekend, with Slot not holding back as he sent Mohamed Salah and Alexis Mac Allister on.

Outstanding goalkeeping from Caoimhin Kelleher denied West Ham an equaliser as Michail Antonio and Max Kilman threatened and Kostas Tsimikas floundered, again reminding why Jurgen Klopp labelled him the “best No. 2 goalie in the world.”

Slot’s substitutions paid off with a third goal midway through the half, with Salah finding Conor Bradley‘s smart run, and after Mac Allister’s effort was saved the Egyptian converted on the rebound for 3-1.

West Ham‘s misery was compounded straight after when Edson Alvarez brought Salah down for his second yellow card, allowing Liverpool a comfortable end to the game.

That was summed up by a fourth goal through Gakpo, who cut inside from the left and exchanged passes with Nunez, before powering a trademark strike beyond Fabianski.

Gakpo then added another late on as the Reds progressed to the fourth round, twisting into space and blasting home via a deflection.

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TIA Man of the Match: Diogo Jota

Referee: Andy Madley

Liverpool: Kelleher; Bradley, Quansah, Gomez, Tsimikas (Robertson 82′); Chiesa (Salah 59′), Endo (Morton 82′), Jones, Gakpo, Jota (Mac Allister 59′), Nunez

Subs not used: Jaros, Van Dijk, Alexander-Arnold, Szoboszlai, Diaz

West Ham: Fabianski; Coufal, Todibo, Kilman, Cresswell; Alvarez, Soucek (Paqueta 59′), Soler (Irving 78′); Bowen (Kudus 78′), Summerville, Ings (Antonio 60′)

Subs not used: Foderingham, Mavropanos, Wan-Bissaka, Emerson, Rodriguez

Next match: Wolves (A) – Premier League – Saturday, September 28, 5.30pm (BST)