Ruthless Liverpool’s 4-1 win adds to Hammers’ problems
LONDON — The only member of the English Premier League’s top six in action on Saturday, Liverpool took full advantage.
Juergen Klopp’s side won at West Ham 4-1 to secure successive league victories for the first time since August.
Mohamed Salah scored twice, while Joel Matip and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also found the net as Liverpool made light work of West Ham at the Olympic Stadium.
The victory took Liverpool level on points with Chelsea and Arsenal, which both face tough challenges today against top two Manchester United and City, respectively. Third-placed Tottenham meets Crystal Palace.
“Two weeks ago I felt quite different. We knew after that [4-1 defeat] at Tottenham that we were bad,” Klopp said. “We wanted to strike back and the boys did with three really nice results.”
After an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Brighton in its last home league game, West Ham’s display did little to relieve the increasing pressure on manager Slaven Bilic.
“I definitely don’t feel a broken man. I’m very, very strong,” Bilic said. “On the other hand, the situation for West Ham is not good.”
The Hammers dropped to 17th, with just a point separating them from the relegation zone.
Brighton and Huddersfield both won to move into the top half of the standings in their debut league seasons.
Brighton extended its unbeaten run to four games by defeating Swansea 1-0 with Glenn Murray scoring for a third consecutive league game.
“Eighth has surpassed our expectation, most newly promoted teams would say the same, but we’ve got to be guarded against any type of complacency,” Brighton manager Chris Hughton said.
Huddersfield held on for a 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion despite playing the final third of the game with 10 men.
Christopher Schindler was sent off after receiving a second yellow card, but Rajiv van La Parra’s first-half strike was enough.
The other promoted team, Newcastle, conceded a lastminute goal to Bournemouth in a 1-0 loss. Steve Cook’s injury-time header left Rafael Benitez’s side with just one win in its last six.