Salah scores again as Liverpool thrash West Ham

The result left Liverpool on 57 points from 28 games, 15 behind leaders Manchester City and one ahead of third-placed Manchester United, who are at home to fourth-placed champions Chelsea (53 points) on Sunday.

Liverpool’s three-pronged attack of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino enjoyed another productive afternoon as all three scored after midfielder Emre Can headed the home side into a 29th-minute lead.

“The front three are all lucky boys, the rest of the team give us assists and play well behind so we are lucky,” Senegal winger Mane told the BBC.

“Honestly we played very good from the beginning. We scored four goals and created so many chances. We pushed as a team.”

Can gave Liverpool the lead after Salah swung in a corner and the Egyptian doubled the advantage in the 51st, drilling an unstoppable shot into the far corner from 10 metres past the wrong-footed Adrian.

Firmino added the third six minutes later as he rounded the West Ham keeper and Mane scored Liverpool’s fourth with a simple tap-in after substitute Michail Antonio had given the visiting fans something to cheer about with his first touch of the ball.

The result in no way flattered Liverpool, who could have won by a bigger margin as Salah and Mane both hit the woodwork and spurned two more chances in an action-packed encounter.

West Ham striker Marko Arnautovic hit the crossbar with a sublime lob at the other end with the score 0-0 but the visitors were ultimately outplayed in every department.

The outcome extended West Ham manager David Moyes’s winless record at Anfield to 15 games as he also failed to taste any success while in charge at Everton and Manchester United but the Scot was not downbeat.

“We were never going to get loads of chances here, we knew that, and the quality of the players they have caused us big problems,” he said.

“We played some good stuff in the first half and with a bit more courage we could have gone in front. Ultimately we are playing against a team in real form.”