West Ham United 1-3 Liverpool: Three Things We Learned

Liverpool have made it back-to-back wins in the Premier League with a 3-1 victory over West Ham United away from home at the London Stadium.

Jurgen Klopp’s side headed into the match against West Ham on Sunday evening on the back of a 3-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur away from home at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday evening.

The Reds were the better side over the course of the 90 minutes and deservedly picked up all three points from the encounter.

Egypt international forward Mohamed Salah scored two goals for Liverpool, while Netherlands international midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum added a third.

The win against West Ham means that Liverpool are now third in the Premier League table with 40 points from 21 matches, four points behind leaders Manchester City, who have played 20 games. The Reds are now rated at 4/1 by Betfair to win the title this season.

Here are the three things we learned from the game between West Ham and Liverpool:

Liverpool cannot be dismissed

Recent results of Liverpool have been far from great, and there were suggestions that the Reds could struggle to even finish in the top four of the Premier League table this season. However, the defending English champions have shown that they remain a force to be reckoned with. Mohamed Salah is a world-class footballer and showed his quality against West Ham. The Reds were dynamic and were frightening on the counter-attack. Manchester City may be the favourites for the title, but Liverpool are not going anywhere.

Nathaniel Phillips is a rising star

Nathaniel Phillips has done well when he has played, and the 23-year-old central defender was superb against West Ham. The Englishman was a rock at the back and played well alongside Jordan Henderson, who is a midfielder by trade but was deployed in defence due to injury problems. According to WhoScored, Phillips had a pass accuracy of 84.2%, won four headers, took 84 touches, attempted one dribble, and made one tackle and four clearances.

West Ham United get a reality check

West Ham United are having a wonderful season and are flying high in the table, and there have been suggestions that they could be challenging for the Champions League places. However, against Liverpool on Sunday evening, David Moyes’s side got a reality check. The Hammers are still in a good position, but the defeat to the Reds was a reminder that there is still a gap between them and the big boys.