Liverpool Vs West Ham — liverpool vs west ham: New set-piece kings can still achieve 'something beautiful'

Liverpool secured a five-goal win over West Ham in a match that underlined their recent resurgence and set-piece ascendancy. The liverpool vs west ham result lifts Liverpool into fifth and strengthens their bid to reach the Champions League as they head into March.

Liverpool's five-goal day and the leap up the table

Liverpool put five past West Ham, the first time they have scored five in a Premier League game since a 5-1 win over Tottenham in April 2025 when they clinched the title. The performance, on a similar sunny afternoon, left Arne Slot's side heading into March "with a spring in their step, " and moved them to fifth in the Premier League, just three points off third.

Slot said he "could feel the nervousness inside the stadium, " after a strange game in which Liverpool were clinical if not always in control. The club have won four of five Premier League games in a short space of time — as many wins as they managed in their previous 13 (D6 L3) — and have now lost just twice in their past 21 matches in all competitions.

Set-piece transformation and the Aaron Briggs exit

Liverpool’s recent haul of goals has been driven by set pieces. Since the turn of the year, in 2026, Liverpool have scored more goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) than any other side in the league. Seven of their most recent nine Premier League goals have come from set-pieces — five from corners, one direct free-kick and one from a throw-in — and all three of Liverpool's first-half goals against West Ham came from corners.

Former set-piece coach Aaron Briggs left the club in December, at the end of 2025, and the existing coaching staff at Anfield have absorbed his duties. Slot said: "It's very pleasing because firstly that is the reason we have won, " adding that the team have been better even in matches they lost and that "the first half of the season, almost every set-piece we conceded went in. Now we start scoring from set-pieces and things start looking brighter and better than when you don't. " The metamorphosis into set-piece specialists has taken Liverpool’s set-piece tally to eight for the calendar year.

How the goals were created: Ekitiké, Van Dijk and Mac Allister

The scoring opened when Hugo Ekitiké put Liverpool ahead after El Hadji Malick Diouf cleared the first corner. Ryan Gravenberch returned a fine ball to Ekitiké, who took his shot early and saw it nestle into Mads Hermansen's bottom corner a slight deflection off Konstantinos Mavropanos; both Mavropanos and Hermansen were judged to have been able to do more.

Virgil van Dijk headed home Dominik Szoboszlai’s delivery after bumping aside Soungoutou Magassa and beating Tomas Soucek to the ball. It was Van Dijk’s second set-piece goal in three games and Liverpool’s seventh of the year. Alexis Mac Allister then extinguished West Ham’s hope with a brilliant volley in the 43rd minute, the third Liverpool goal to originate from a corner. The eighth set-piece goal was a composed sequence: Mohamed Salah took a corner from the right, Van Dijk flicked on at the near post, Ekitiké cushioned the ball out to Mac Allister and he volleyed into the roof of the net the head of Aaron Wan-Bissaka; the ball did not touch the ground from the moment it left Salah’s foot.

West Ham's on-field moments and off-field pressures

West Ham, described in the match build-up as relegation-battling, had better expected goals than Liverpool and created openings through Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville, but could not find a finishing touch. Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek had chances; Mavropanos scooped wildly over when a Bowen corner landed at his feet. Alisson produced saves from Soucek and then from Bowen after a clearance came straight at the visiting captain.

Off the field, West Ham’s financial picture added pressure: the club warned that players will have to be sold this summer whether they stay up or not after suffering a £104. 2m loss in the same financial year. The visitors also suffered an odd logistical mishap when their bus got stuck on a ramp while attempting to leave the team hotel. Nuno Espírito Santo, reflecting on the match, said: "If I say it was a good performance I sound silly. But that's what I saw. " He also said it was "hard to explain the game. "

Wider context: revenue, injuries and the Champions League objective

The result came as Liverpool announced record overall revenue of £703m in their latest accounts, most of which the club put back into the title-winning team’s bank balances. Arne Slot has been clear that it would not be an acceptable season if the reigning champions failed to qualify for the Champions League, and this victory improved their prospects of doing so.

Earlier in the campaign Liverpool’s chances had looked under threat following a string of poor results, a falling-out with talisman Mohamed Salah and an injury to record signing Alexander Isak. The club have since restored their ability to win — through late winners, gutsy away displays and a marked improvement from set-pieces — and the five-goal display against West Ham has intensified both their momentum and the pressure on their visitors.