West Ham v Liverpool, 2024/25

The Premier League pace setters did drop their tempo after the restart, as Trent Alexander-Arnold's deflected long-range drive and Diogo Jota's finish completed the rout.

West Ham sit 13th, while Liverpool’s title rivals must now hope for the Reds to slip up after the turn of the year.

The Reds were on the front foot from the off, as Salah forced an instinctive early stop from Alphonse Areola, before they deservedly went ahead on the half-hour as Diaz smashed in off the upright.

Mohammed Kudus struck the woodwork at the other end, but it was 2-0 less than two minutes later as Salah brilliantly span clear of his marker to tee up Gakpo.

Salah then got in on the act in the 44th minute, as the Egyptian curled home his 17th league goal of the campaign from just inside box, to put the Reds in cruise control.

West Ham simply had no response, and Alexander-Arnold's 54th-minute rocket deceived Areola after taking a wicked deflection off Konstantinos Mavropanos.

An injury to talisman Jarrod Bowen compounded Julen Lopetegui’s frustration, before Liverpool’s strength in depth told as substitute Jota lashed in goal number five from another Salah assist, though West Ham did go close to a consolation when Luis Guilherme hit the post in stoppage time.

Salah-led Liverpool set the standard

Slot's team head back to Merseyside with their Premier League lead extended and their confidence given another boost. Arsenal and Chelsea will play in the coming days, while Nottingham Forest are flying high in second, but the Reds look by far the team’s superior side heading into 2025.

As the goals flowed, Liverpool's attackers showed no signs of slowing down, with an even spread across their starting front line, as Salah, Gakpo and Diaz all found the back of the net.

Despite the ruthless nature of this victory in the capital, Slot knows it could have been an even greater winning margin, as West Ham wilted under the pressure.

The first half alone included eight shots on target for Liverpool, and only some fine stops from Areola stopped the Hammers from suffering complete humiliation.

Salah, meanwhile, has now set a Premier League record – he has provided at least one goal and one assist in eight different games this season. No player has ever achieved such a feat. Whether he meant to spin the ball into Gakpo’s path for Liverpool’s second goal, only he knows, but Salah’s form is the driving force to Slot’s winning machine.

The fixture schedule affords Liverpool a small break before their next outing – ahead of hosting rivals Manchester United on January 5 – and Slot will hope that rest sets the stage for his team to cruise away in 2025.

A resounding defeat, and more pressure on Lopetegui, meant there was little to celebrate for the Hammers fans heading out of London Stadium after their final game of 2024.

The gap between the hosts and the Premier League leaders was ruthlessly underlined from the first minute as their defensive block was breached multiple times before the interval.

As West Ham’s defenders struggled to cope with wave after wave of Liverpool attacks, their fans were at least offered hope on the counter by Kudus, who caused plenty of problems for the Reds’ backline.

He created an early chance that was squandered by Lucas Paqueta, and if his effort against the post had gone in, Liverpool's storm may have been stalled. As it was, West Ham were further behind swiftly after.

While Kudus provided a bright spark and a loss to the league leaders is not necessarily a disaster, but the manner of the defeat – on the back of four games unbeaten – will be frustrating for Lopetegui, whose team appeared to have turned a corner, but must now rally themselves for a trip to Manchester City.

Club reports

West Ham | Liverpool

Referee: Anthony Taylor. Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn. Fourth official: Steven Martin. VAR: Darren England. Assistant VAR: Simon Bennett.