Juergen Klopp on Saturday described a near-perfect Liverpool performance as a “joy to watch,” as Mohamed Salah scored for the sixth straight game in a 4-1 thrashing of West Ham United at Anfield.
Klopp’s men moved up into second in the Premier League by edging a point ahead of Manchester United, who hosted fourth-placed Chelsea yesterday, as Emre Can, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane were also on target.
“I don’t think as a manager you can expect a game like this; you can hope for it, but it’s very rare you get it. We got it. It was a joy to watch,” Klopp said. “It was intense, it was aggressive, it was angry, it was full of desire. I saw everything I wish to see in a game of football and it’s not often you see that.”
Photo: AFP
Salah also drew level with Harry Kane on 23 Premier League goals in an outstanding debut season at Liverpool in the battle for the golden boot.
The Egyptian was inches away from opening the scoring inside three minutes when he struck the post, but did have a hand when Can’s bullet header from Salah’s corner broke the deadlock on 29 minutes for Liverpool’s 100th goal of the season in all competitions.
Salah doubled Liverpool’s lead when he steered a shot into the far corner on his favored left foot after the break.
Moments later it was Firmino who beat West Ham goalkeeper Adrian to Can’s pass before slotting into an empty net.
Substitute Michail Antonio pulled a goal back for the Hammers just a minute after coming on, but Mane ensured all of Liverpool’s prolific front three were on target.
“We always thought we had a chance of scoring today, but we couldn’t keep their front players quiet,” West Ham manager David Moyes said. “Ultimately we are playing against a team in real form.”
At the other end of the table, promoted Huddersfield Town and Brighton & Hove Albion moved clear of the bottom three.
West Bromwich Albion are now seven points adrift of safety at the foot of the table as Huddersfield struck twice in eight minutes at the start of the second period to win 2-1 at the Hawthorns.
Brighton moved up to 12th thanks to Glenn Murray’s double and late goals from Anthony Knockaert and Jurgen Locadia to end Swansea’s 10-match unbeaten run in a 4-1 thrashing that drops the Welsh side back into the relegation zone.
Dwight Gayle also scored twice, but Newcastle United failed to back up their stunning win over Manchester United as they blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Bournemouth.
Southampton also salvaged a point late on to edge out of the drop zone on goal difference.
Earlier, Stoke City boss Paul Lambert hailed Jack Butland as the “best goalkeeper in Britain” despite an own-goal from the England international costing his side the chance to move out of the bottom three in a 1-1 draw at Leicester.
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