Set Piece Masterclass as Liverpool Beat West Ham 5-2

Anfield witnessed a ruthless exhibition of dead-ball execution as Liverpool dismantled West Ham United 5-2 to climb level on points with fourth-placed Manchester United and intensify the battle for Champions League qualification. Arne Slot’s side required only 45 minutes to establish an insurmountable lead, scoring three times from set-piece situations before cruising through a second half that briefly flickered with resistance.

The tone was set inside five minutes. Ryan Gravenberch threaded a low free-kick into Hugo Ekitike’s path, and the French forward lashed his 16th goal of the campaign beyond Mads Hermansen at the near post. West Ham responded with spells of possession, yet their momentum evaporated in the 24th minute when Dominik Szoboszlai’s whipped corner found Virgil van Dijk unmarked; the captain thundered a header home to double the advantage. Just before the interval, Alexis Mac Allister’s sweetly struck volley took a decisive deflection, effectively ending the contest before the teams had left the pitch.

Slot’s halftime message centred on professionalism, but the visitors emerged reinvigorated. Tomas Soucek halved the deficit on 52 minutes, steering in El Hadji Malick Diouf’s inviting cross to awaken memories of previous Anfield collapses. Briefly, the hosts wobbled: Konstantinos Mavropanos, Jarrod Bowen and Soucek all spurned presentable chances that would have tightened the scoreline.

Cody Gakpo calmed the nerves in the 70th minute, cutting inside to see a shot deflect past Hermansen and restore the three-goal cushion. Taty Castellanos lashed in a second for West Ham with ten minutes remaining, yet parity lasted barely 90 seconds. Jeremie Frimpong’s low cross ricocheted off Axel Disasi for an own goal, sealing Liverpool’s first five-goal league outing of the season and lifting them above Chelsea into fifth.

For Slot, whose side have now scored more goals from set pieces than any other Premier League club in 2026, the victory was further evidence of a tactical identity built on precision and physicality. West Ham, meanwhile, stay 18th, two points from safety and with nerves jangling ahead of a mid-week trip to Fulham.

Liverpool travel to Wolves on Tuesday knowing momentum is theirs; on this evidence, so too is a growing belief that another surge towards the summit remains well within reach.