Liverpool boss Arne Slot looks on during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on February 28, 2026. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images)placeholder image
Liverpool boss Arne Slot looks on during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on February 28, 2026. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images
Liverpool earned a 5-2 win over West Ham United but their triumph was hardly straightforward.
Arne Slot admitted he could feel ‘nervousness’ around Anfield during Liverpool’s victory over West Ham - but praised that the Reds did not allow more than a two-goal cushion to be surrendered.
Liverpool moved up to fifth spot in the Premier League with a 5-2 win against the Hammers. The home side went into half-time three goals ahead, with Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister all scoring from set-pieces.
But it was anything but comfortable for the Reds after the interval Tomas Soucek reduced the arrears for West Ham four minutes after the restart. There was then a period when Liverpool were frantic and could not find control. Cody Gakpo’s deflected shot that found the back of the net helped settle things down, although the Hammers again gave themselves a lifeline when Taty Castellanos was left unmarked from a corner.
However, the three-goal lead was again restored with seven minutes remaining as Liverpool substitute Jeremie Frimpong’s cross was steered into his own net by West Ham defender Axel Disasi.
Asked about the spell after West Ham’s first goal, Liverpool boss Slot said: “This happened, I think more this season, that there were three, four or five minutes during a game where we struggled a little bit. But, as I said here so many times, usually in those four or five minutes a ball went in and if that then happens at 0-0, you have a different feeling because you’re 1-0 down than when it happens at 3-0 up. I don’t think there was ever a moment that they were close to closing the gap to one goal. They scored the 3-1, I think we [then] had the biggest chance for 4-1 with Cody Gakpo. Then it took a while before we scored the 4-1, which was scored by Cody Gakpo as well.
“It came back to 4-2, we were having our chances again, so it was never under real threat but I could feel the nervousness in the stadium and that, of course, makes sense because so many times this season we’ve given away a very comfortable lead, completely unnecessary but it did happen.
“I never like to concede a goal but if we have to concede a goal I like it that we had 10 players in and around our box and sometimes there’s a bit of bad luck that then the ball just falls with these one or two players of them when we had seven or eight over there, or quality by the individual who feels, ‘I have to be there’ – Soucek. That is, to a certain extent, something positive because we’ve conceded goals this season as well where not all of our players were back.”
Liverpool’s victory moved them up to fifth in the Premier League table amid the battle for Champions League qualification.
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