Liverpool after the 5-1 win against the Hammers will now face Fulham in the round of four
By Kehinde Okeowo
Liverpool booked a semi-final ticket in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night, after putting five goals past visiting West Ham at Anfield.
The home side started the brightest and took the lead in the 28th minute after Dominik Szoboszlai drove a superb 25-yard effort into the bottom corner.
Curtis Jones made it two 11 minutes after the restart when he deceived Alphonse Areola into thinking he was going to cut a cross back from the edge of the six-yard box, and instead drove a shot through the Hammers’ keeper’s legs.
The Reds put the ball in the net once again 19 minutes from time when Cody Gakpo was given too much space to fire home his eighth goal of the season
Jarred Bowen put the visitors on the scoreboard in the 77th minute, but Mohamed Salah restored a 3-goal lead for his team 5 minutes later.
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It then went from bad to worse for West Ham in the 84th minute when Jones finished off an excellent run to score a brace and made it 5-1 for Liverpool
There could have been more as the excellent Harvey Elliott, Gakpo and substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold all went close and Salah put the rebound wide of an empty net after Areola had touched a Darwin Nunez shot on to a post.
It was the first time Liverpool had scored five at home against the Hammers since 1998 and keeps them on course for a record-extending 10th triumph in the competition they last won as recently as 2022.
Speaking after the match, Hammers boss David Moyes, blamed his team’s poor performance on Liverpool’s display on the night and the need to rotate his squad.
He said: “Whatever you say about us tonight, their performance was very good and they were fast and quick and all over us, right from the first minute. We never got a chance to breathe.
“I don’t rotate very often but you just can’t play them every game with what the scheduling is like.
“The only teams who’ve played more games than us over three years are Liverpool and Manchester City, and then we had the quickest turnaround. All of those things play a part.”
With the comprehensive win, Liverpool will face Fulham in the semi-finals, with the first leg in the week beginning 8 January and the second leg two weeks later.
