Liverpool suffered their third defeat in five Premier League games as West Ham came out as the better team at Upton Park.
Early goals from Winston Reid and Diafra Sakho proved too much for the visitors, who pulled one back through Raheem Sterling before half time.
The Reds pressured West Ham after the break.
But West Ham’s goalkeeper Adrian made some fantastic saves and midfielder Morgan Amalfitano added a third goal in the 88th minute.
West Ham had lost their last two home games this season and taken four points from their last eight games against these opponents.
But they could not have started better against Liverpool, Reid’s goal was a close range effort after James Tomkins headed a free-kick supplied by Stewart Downing.
The second goal came from Sakho who executed a glorious chip over Simon Magnolet from the right, the ball dropped into the net before Enner Valencia could reach it.
Liverpool seemed to have not recovered from their successful midweek return to the Champions League.
When Sterling scored his third goal of the season after Balotelli’s shot was blocked, it was assumed that a fight back was on the cards. West Ham’s Valencia forced Mignolet into a good save just after Dejan Lovren had suffered a heavy collision with his own teammate.
Adam Lallana came in for Lucas in the second half, which lead to a few tactical changes but West ham remained resilient.
Liverpool pressed on with chances from Fabio Borini and Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert came on late in the second half to boost the attack.
However, Liverpool were vulnerable to a counter-attack and as Downing’s pass released Amalifitano, his finish was clinical.
West Ham boss Sam Allardyce had this to say about the match:
“That performance today just shows what level and what capabilities we might be able to achieve this season.
“To score two goals in that early period really stunned the Liverpool players. We really took them to task. We played outstandingly well and really didn’t let Liverpool play at all.”
Leave a Reply