Premier League: Liverpool 5 (Ekitike 5, Van Dijk 24, Mac Allister 43, Gakpo 70, Disasi OG 82) West Ham 2 (Soucek 49, Castellanos 75)
Liverpool’s transformation from set-piece failures to the top-flight’s in-form side underpinned a 5-2 win over West Ham which maintained their bid for Champions League qualification.
Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister scored from first-half corners, becoming only the second team in the competition’s history after Manchester United in 2016 to do so.
Cody Gakpo scored his first league goal in eight matches and the nerves were eased when Axel Disasi turned in Jeremie Frimpong’s cross after Tomas Soucek and Taty Castellanos had made things a little less comfortable.
Liverpool moved level with fourth-placed Manchester United having reduced their goal difference disadvantage to one goal, while blowing a hole in the Hammers’ recent revival after taking 11 points from 18.
At the turn of the year Arne Slot’s side had the worst record in terms of set-piece balance – the difference between the number scored and conceded – leading to sacking of coach Aaron Briggs.
Since New Year’s Day they have scored nine and conceded three, the best form of any top-flight team in that period.
Slot had argued part of their struggles in the first half of the season had just been down to bad luck but that appears to have changed, especially as their xG for the opening 45 minutes was just 0.7.
After their added-time winner at Nottingham Forest last weekend it took Liverpool just five minutes to make the breakthrough.
West Ham, who have now won just once in 59 visits to Anfield, twice failed to clear a corner, and Ryan Gravenberch squared for Ekitike to fire through the legs of Konstantinos Mavropanos with a slight deflection to beat Mads Hermansen.
It was the France international’s 16th goal of the season and 11th in the league, with only Erling Haaland, Igor Thiago and Antoine Semenyo scoring more.
West Ham’s response saw Mavropanos fire wildly over from six yards and Crysencio Summerville almost spring a counter-attack goal from another Liverpool corner, with Mac Allister eventually blocking Aaron Wan Bissaka’s shot.
Gravenberch forced Hermansen into a low save before Van Dijk headed in Dominik Szoboszlai’s inswinging corner – a tactic they had barely used in the first half of the season – for his third in eight games and fifth of the campaign to equal last year’s tally.
Only John Terry (41) has more Premier League goals by a central defender, excluding penalties, than the Netherlands captain (28).
A comedy of errors followed as Summerville tackled one of his own players as he tried to shoot and then Alisson Becker passed the ball straight to Jarrod Bowen with the goalkeeper having to pounce on the rebound.
Gravenberch then did the same but the winger’s touch took him too wide, with Alisson saving at his near post from Soucek as West Ham threatened again.
When Ekitike guided Salah’s far-post corner back for Mac Allister to volley home the game appeared over with Hammers boss Nuno Espirito Santo despondently sat rewatching the goal on a monitor in the dugout.
But four minutes into the second half Soucek converted Malick Diouf’s low cross after Ibrahima Konate could only flick on Bowen’s cross and Gravenberch failed to track the run of the West Ham midfielder.
Gakpo sliced wide a volley from six yards before scoring with a much better effort, cutting in on the angle and shooting inside the far post, and although Castellanos raised the visitors’ hopes with 15 minutes to go, Disasi’s own goal ended them.
Brentford manager Keith Andrews. Photograph: Richard Sellers/PA
Brentford manager Keith Andrews. Photograph: Richard Sellers/PA
Elsewhere, Burnley fought back from three goals down to level the score but faced heartbreak in added time as a second strike from Mikkel Damsgaard sealed Brentford a 4-3 victory, bringing his team within five points of the top-four teams in the Premier League.
Seventh-placed Brentford seemed to be cruising to victory after taking an early lead through Damsgaard, before Igor Thiago and Kevin Schade scored to put them 3-0 ahead in just 34 minutes.
But an own goal by Michael Kayode just before halftime opened a window for Burnley, and Hannibal Mejbri set up two second-half strikes by Jaidon Anthony and Zian Flemming to make it 3-3.
Flemming found the net again, only for the goal to be overturned by VAR for an offside. Damsgaard’s winner sealed the visitors’ first win in three league matches, as Ashley Barnes’ late equaliser was also overturned due to handball.
Thierno Barry came off the bench to fire Everton to Premier League victory at Newcastle for the second successive season in a dramatic conclusion to a madcap encounter.
Barry struck seconds after fellow substitute Jacob Murphy looked to have snatched a draw for the hosts to claim a 3-2 win and condemn the Magpies to a third successive league defeat at St James’ Park, although it took a stunning late save by Jordan Pickford to seal it.
Jarrad Branthwaite had headed the visitors into an early lead which was cancelled out by Jacob Ramsey, but Nick Pope’s blunder handed Beto a second goal on a plate.
Substitute Evanilson claimed a second-half equaliser as Bournemouth stretched their unbeaten run to eight Premier League games by battling back to draw 1-1 against Sunderland.
Eliezer Mayenda volleyed the Blacks Cats into an early lead at Vitality Stadium with his first goal since the opening weekend of the season.
But the visitors were denied a first top-flight away victory since October when Evanilson converted Marcus Tavernier’s cross with his shoulder 27 minutes from time.