LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Wednesday, September 25, 2024: Liverpool's Cody Gakpo celebrates after scoring the fifth goal during the Football League Cup 3rd Round match between Liverpool FC and West Ham United FC at Anfield. (Photo by Ryan Brown/Propaganda)

2 forwards compete for Man of the Match and Caoimhin Kelleher “incredibly good”

Cody Gakpo was a double goalscoring hero for Liverpool in their 5-1 win over West Ham, but did he beat Diogo Jota to the highest rating?

Arne Slot‘s side made it into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup with ease on Wednesday evening, with a much-changed team excelling.

Liverpool didn’t panic after Jarell Quansah‘s unfortunate own goal, with Jota’s brace putting the hosts in control.

Mohamed Salah came off the bench and scored his customary goal, before Gakpo netted twice late in the day to complete the rout.

Here we compare our player ratings with those of the Liverpool Echo, GOAL, FotMob and This Is Anfield’s readers.

Gakpo (8.4) just edged out Jota (8.3) to get the highest overall rating, as the pair outshone their opponents at Anfield.

The former finds himself unlucky to be out of Liverpool’s strongest XI currently, but he did his chances no harm whatsoever.

The Echo‘s Paul Gorst claimed that Gakpo “gave Coufal the runaround,” adding that he “has a real purpose about him this season.”

Mark Doyle of GOAL described it as “another menacing display” by the 25-year-old, who was deserving of all the praise coming his way.

TIA’s Mark Delgado loved what he saw from Jota in a “roving No. 10 role,” giving him the Man of the Match award on the night.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Wednesday, September 25, 2024: Liverpool's Diogo Jota celebrates after scoring his side's first equalising goal during the Football League Cup 3rd Round match between Liverpool FC and West Ham United FC at Anfield. (Photo by Ryan Brown/Propaganda)

He also said that the Portuguese’s finish for his second goal was the “sort which had been missing for a few games beforehand.”

Caoimhin Kelleher (7.4) was next in the ratings, which may surprise some, but he was once again faultless in everything he did.

Gorst described Liverpool’s backup goalkeeper as an “incredibly good deputy” to Alisson – he is priceless with the Reds’ No.1 out currently.

The lowest score at Anfield went to Quansah (5.9), but in fairness, he largely responded well to his unlucky own goal.