Liverpool walked into the London Stadium knowing the stakes.
The Premier League season has been rough, and the club had slipped into a worrying pattern.
Losses were piling up. Performances were flat. Confidence was low.
Fans were frustrated because they knew the team could do better.
Players were under pressure because they understood what was expected of them.
Arne Slot needed something to break the cycle, and he needed it fast.
West Ham were also struggling, which made this match even more important.
Both sides were trying to stop their own problems from getting worse.
Liverpool started well with possession, but the real battle was mental.
The question was simple: could the players step up when the team needed them?
The atmosphere reflected that tension. Every pass mattered.
Every mistake could bring trouble. Every good moment could settle nerves.
This is what made Liverpool’s eventual performance feel different.
It felt like a team trying to change its story.
Liverpool took the lead on the hour mark.
Florian Wirtz drifted inside, used the outside of his boot, and slipped a clever pass through West Ham’s tight defence.
Cody Gakpo collected it and squared the ball for Isak, who finished first-time into the bottom-left corner.
It was his first Premier League goal for the club. Before that, Areola had denied him with a point-blank save, but this time he made it count.
West Ham stayed in the game but created very little.
Their chances completely collapsed when Lucas Paqueta picked up two yellow cards for dissent in just 54 seconds.
With West Ham down to ten men, Liverpool controlled the rest of the contest.
Then in stoppage time, Joe Gomez delivered a low cross, and Gakpo smashed it in from close range to seal a 2-0 win.
After the win, Arne Slot made it clear what the result meant.
He focused on Alexander Isak’s breakthrough moment and the team’s much–needed control.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Slot said about Isak’s first Premier League goal, “I think it does feel significant.”
“I wasn’t planning to give him many more minutes [before bringing him off].”
It was a huge shift in momentum.
Slot admitted the team had been desperate for a positive result.
He said, “There’s definitely a feeling of relief because if you have lost so many times then winning is important.”
The head coach pointed out the difference in performance too.
“We hardly conceded a chance.”
“We were able to create chances ourselves.”
“In other games we gave away a lot more than we did today.”
He highlighted how the fast starts had hurt Liverpool in recent weeks.
Slot said, “It helps if you don’t go 1-0 down after five minutes because then you are more open.”
“We played the game I wanted us to play.”
Slot also appreciated the fans who travelled despite recent struggles.
“What I saw meant a lot to our players and our fans.”
“The fans had to travel a long way to support a team that has been performing poorly.”
Nuno Espírito Santo, on the other hand, was disappointed but tried to stay measured.
He told BBC Match of the Day, “I think we achieved good moments in spells and reached the spaces in the final third but the decision was not as accurate as we all wished.”
On Paqueta’s red card, he said, “Allow me to speak with Lucas first and try to understand why.”
He added, “Even with one man less the boys had a bit of fight.”
“The spirit and the desire was there in a day that was very sad for us as a club…”
“The boys gave it a fight so let’s keep on going.”
Mateus Fernandes echoed the frustration.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said, “They’re a good team with a lot of quality.”
“We need to be more consistent.”
He added, “It was a difficult game for us… when Lucas was sent off it was more difficult.”
But he insisted, “No I don’t think we’ve gone backwards.”
“We have quality in the squad to win much more games.”
And with Sunderland up next in a tight schedule, Arne Slot called the win a foundation.
“This is a good first step for us – that we won and had a clean sheet.”
Liverpool will look to build on this momentum as they host Sunderland during the week.
Read more: Alexander Isak reveals personal frustration after scoring first Premier League goal for Liverpool
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