Liverpool thrashed West Ham United 5-1 to book their place in the last four of the EFL Cup and set up a semi-final against Fulham.
Jurgen Klopp's side dominated from start to finish, with Dominik Szoboszlai opening the scoring in the first half before running riot after the break, with Curtis Jones finding the back of the net twice, while Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah were also on target.
How the match unfolded
Liverpool made a fast start, with Harvey Elliott twice going close before Szoboszlai shot narrowly wide.
But the Hungarian made no mistake with his next chance, powering a superb strike from 25 yards into the bottom-left corner to put Liverpool in front on the half-hour mark.
The hosts almost doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time, but Gakpo could only direct his header the wrong side of the post.
Liverpool maintained the same intensity in the second half, with Darwin Nunez forcing a save from the recalled Alphonse Areola.
The second goal duly arrived after Nunez found Jones with a clever pass, and the midfielder managed to squeeze his shot in from a tight angle to give Liverpool a deserved two-goal lead with 56 minutes on the clock.
Gakpo made it 3-0 on 71 minutes, receiving the ball from Ibrahima Konate following a surging run by the centre-back, before taking a touch and firing past Areola from the edge of the penalty area.
West Ham pulled a goal back six minutes later through Jarrod Bowen, who turned Jarell Quansah inside out before curling a superb right-footed finish into the far corner of the net.
But Liverpool restored their three-goal advantage with eight minutes remaining through Salah, who slotted home after being played in by a sublime through-ball from fellow substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Into the final four 🤩 pic.twitter.com/OtWgSmEJ6P
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 20, 2023
Jones then scored his second goal two minutes later, running through a tired-looking West Ham defence before tucking in from 10 yards out.
It was a perfect night for Klopp, who was able to manage the minutes of several key players ahead of Saturday's huge showdown with leaders Arsenal at Anfield.
TV Info - Broadcasters
Salah and Alexander-Arnold were introduced on the hour-mark, with captain Virgil van Dijk making way at the same time.
See: Liverpool report and line-up
See: West Ham report and line-up
Semi-final draw
Middlesbrough v Chelsea
Liverpool v Fulham
First legs to be played w/c 8 January, second legs to be played w/c 22 January
