Liverpool Vs West Ham: liverpool vs west ham ends 5-2 as set-pieces mark turning point
In a match dominated by dead-ball routines, liverpool vs west ham finished 5-2 at Anfield as Liverpool produced three first-half corner goals and a late own goal to seal the scoreline. The result underlined Liverpool’s recent run of form and thrust set-pieces to the centre of their season recovery.
Match timeline and key moments
Liverpool were three up by half-time thanks to corner goals from Hugo Ekitiké, Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister. The Mac Allister strike came in the 43rd minute and was the third goal to originate from a corner. After the restart Tomas Soucek reduced the deficit to make it 3-1, but Cody Gakpo restored a three-goal cushion. Valentin Castellanos scored for the visitors to make it 4-2, and an own goal by Axel Disasi — the defender inadvertently diverting Jeremie Frimpong’s cross into his own net — rounded off the scoring late on to complete the 5-2 scoreline.
How the set-pieces unfolded
The first corner led to Ekitiké’s opener after El Hadji Malick Diouf cleared the initial delivery and Ryan Gravenberch returned a fine ball into the France international, whose early shot nest led into Mads Hermansen’s bottom corner a slight deflection off Konstantinos Mavropanos. Van Dijk’s header arrived from Dominik Szoboszlai’s delivery after he bumped aside Soungoutou Magassa and beat Tomas Soucek to the ball. The eighth set-piece goal for the calendar year was a flowing sequence: Mohamed Salah took a corner from the right, Van Dijk flicked on at the near post, Ekitiké cushioned the ball to Mac Allister and he volleyed into the roof of the net the head of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, with the ball not touching the ground from the moment it left Salah’s foot.
Set-piece statistics and staff changes
Since the turn of the year Liverpool have scored more goals from set-pieces, excluding penalties, than any other side in the league. Seven of Liverpool’s most recent nine Premier League goals have come from set-pieces (5 x corner, 1 x direct free-kick, 1 x throw-in), one more than in their first 38 goals of the season. All three first-half goals against West Ham came from corners. Earlier in the season Liverpool had scored the fewest set-piece goals in the division, and there was a period when the team were 23 goals behind Arsenal in set-pieces, including penalties; that gap has been reduced to three goals. At the end of 2025 the former set-piece coach Aaron Briggs left the club in December and the existing coaching staff at Anfield have absorbed his duties.
Form, table position and recent record
Slot’s side have won four of five Premier League games in a short space of time, as many wins as they managed in their previous 13 matches (D6 L3). Liverpool have now lost just twice in their past 21 matches in all competitions. The victory moves Liverpool into fifth in the Premier League, three points off third. A third successive top-flight victory leaves Slot’s side level on points with fourth-placed Manchester United, who play on Sunday, and three adrift of Aston Villa in third.
Reactions from managers and incidents around the game
Arne Slot highlighted the importance of set-pieces, saying he could feel the nervousness inside the stadium after a strange game where Liverpool were clinical if not always in control. In his post-match press conference Slot emphasised that scoring from set-pieces was the reason they won, that the team had played OK to good but not their best, and that the reversal in set-piece fortunes — creating chances in the first part of the season that did not go in, and conceding many — had now gone back to normal. He said one of West Ham’s early chances would have gone in in the first six or seven months of the season with 100 per cent certainty, and noted the club had been 23 goals behind Arsenal in set-pieces but had closed the gap to three, while acknowledging Arsenal could still add to their own tally this weekend. Nuno Espírito Santo, reflecting on his side’s performance, said, "If I say it was a good performance I sound silly, " but added, "that's what I saw. "
Wider context: finances, squad and injuries
The week also brought contrasting financial headlines: Liverpool announced record overall revenue of £703m in their latest accounts, most of it ploughed back into the bank balances of a title-winning team, while West Ham 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 had a better xG than Liverpool in the match but found Alisson in fine form, with saves from Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen noted, and their centre-half and goalkeeper were criticised for the first goal. West Ham's preparations were also disrupted when their team bus got stuck on a ramp while attempting to leave the team hotel. Florian Wirtz missed the game through injury and Slot was asked whether the No. 7 is expected to be fit for Tuesday’s visit to Wolverhampton Wanderers; that question was raised at the post-match press conference.
Liverpool’s five-goal haul at Anfield evoked a reminder of the last time they scored five in a Premier League game, when the sun was out as they clinched the title with a 5-1 win over Tottenham in April 2025. For West Ham the heavy defeat and ongoing financial constraints add pressure to a relegation battle already described as bleak by some observers.
Close-season staff changes, on-field set-piece progress and the fitness of key players will shape both clubs' short-term plans as Liverpool look to build on momentum and West Ham assess their response to a damaging loss.
