Liverpool Vs West Ham: New set-piece kings can still achieve 'something beautiful' in liverpool vs west ham
Liverpool scored five in a dominant win over West Ham in a match that underlined how set-pieces have become decisive for Arne Slot’s side. The liverpool vs west ham result left the champions with renewed momentum, heading into March with a spring in their step.
Set-piece transformation
Since the turn of the year, Liverpool have scored more goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) than any other side in the league, a sharp reversal from earlier in the campaign when no one in the Premier League had scored fewer from set-pieces. 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. At 3-0 up in the first half of a 5-2 victory over West Ham, Liverpool had scored seven straight goals from set-pieces in the Premier League, the longest run of any side in competition history.
How the five goals arrived
The sequence in the first half began when El Hadji Malick Diouf cleared a corner and Ryan Gravenberch returned a fine ball into Hugo Ekitiké, who took his shot early and saw it nestle into Mads Hermansen’s bottom corner a slight deflection off Konstantinos Mavropanos. Later, Virgil van Dijk headed home Dominik Szoboszlai’s delivery after bumping aside Soungoutou Magassa and beating Tomas Soucek to the ball. Alexis Mac Allister’s brilliant volley in the 43rd minute was the third Liverpool goal to originate from a corner: 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. That run of set-piece goals included three corner goals in the first half of this match.
Defensive lapses and West Ham pressure
West Ham had moments of their own. Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville were prominent as the visitors opened Liverpool up frequently, and Mavropanos scooped wildly over when a Jarrod Bowen corner landed at his feet. Alisson produced saves from Tomas Soucek and then from Bowen after hitting a clearance straight at the visiting captain. Yet West Ham were defensively weak at set plays, and conceding three more corner goals before half-time took them to 15 corner goals. The visitors actually had a better expected-goals figure than Liverpool but found Alisson in fine form and the champions ruthless from set pieces.
Off-field contrasts and reactions
The match exposed sharp financial contrasts: Liverpool recently 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 West Ham travelling party suffered an odd practical setback when their bus got stuck on a ramp while attempting to leave the team hotel. Nuno Espírito Santo reflected: "If I say it was a good performance I sound silly. But that's what I saw. "
Liverpool Vs West Ham: what it means
Arne Slot said: "I could feel the nervousness inside the stadium, " after a strange game where Liverpool were clinical if not always in control. Slot has also stressed the club’s minimum objective is Champions League qualification and admitted it would not be an acceptable season if the reigning champions did not qualify. Liverpool now sit fifth in the Premier League, just three points off third, and 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). They have now lost just twice in their past 21 matches in all competitions.
Personnel and coaching notes
The turnaround at set-pieces followed the departure of set-piece coach Aaron Briggs: at the end of 2025 Briggs left the club, and other coverage notes his departure was recorded in December. The existing coaching staff at Anfield have absorbed his duties. Players and staff have noted the change: Mateus Fernandes said his side had worked all week on a plan to stop Van Dijk, but it failed to have effect, and Cody Gakpo reflected that when a game is stuck being able to score from a set-piece is very important. Slot also remarked: "There was a time when we were 23 goals behind Arsenal, including penalties, and we have closed the gap a bit. Set-pieces can make a massive difference. " The five-goal display came without either of Liverpool’s £100m-plus rated forwards, both injured for this match, and highlighted Virgil van Dijk moving as the second-highest scoring central defender in Premier League history behind John Terry.
Liverpool’s five-star display at Anfield weighed heavily on West Ham and underlined how set-pieces have reshaped the champions' season, even as questions remain about consistency and the narrow marching orders Slot has set for a campaign that must at least secure Champions League qualification.
