Premier League 2018/19: 3 reasons why Liverpool won 4-0 against West Ham United
Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool started their Premier League campaign with an emphatic 4-0 win over West Ham United. A brace from Sadio Mane and goals from Mohamed Salah and Daniel Sturridge helped The Reds complete the rout against the beleaguered visitors.
The hosts started the first half in a positive fashion, creating plenty of opportunities and finally broke the deadlock in the 19th minute after last season's golden boot winner, Mo Salah, tapped in from an Andy Robertson cross. Liverpool doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time with Sadio Mane tapping home from Milner's assist.
Liverpool took control of the game in the second half and punished an unaware West Ham rearguard after Mane slotted the ball past Lukasz Fabianski in the 53rd minute. The hosts completed the rout after Daniel Sturridge scored from close range two minutes from time.
We take a look at the reasons why Liverpool secured a comfortable win over West Ham.
#1 Liverpool's front three start off from where they finished
Liverpool's attacking trio of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino started off from where they left, which ultimately resulted in the hosts securing a dominating win against West Ham at Anfield.
Salah, Mane and Firmino constantly made runs behind the West Ham defence which resulted in the back four being caught out of position on countless occasions.
Mane got the better of Declan Rice on numerous occasions, allowing the wing backs and midfielders create a number of chances and exploit space.
Moreover, Michail Antonio ignored his defensive duties which left a huge gap on the right hand side, allowing Andy Robertson to bomb forward and assist Salah for the first goal.
West Ham were caught napping at the back as Mane tapped in from James Milner's assist in the dying seconds of the first half.
The visitors were undone with some more shoddy defending in the second half as Firmino teed up Mane for Liverpool's third. West Ham's lack of concentration and Roberto Firmino's tireless work rate resulted in Salah, Mane having acres of space to exploit.
The front three did a commendable job in taking their chances, catching the West Ham defence unaware in most parts of the game, thereby helping the hosts secure a comfortable 4-0 win.