Liverpool teach West Ham tough Carabao Cup lesson

Last season, Jurgen Klopp described Diogo Jota as the best finisher at Anfield.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Liverpool 5
Jota (25, 49), Salah (74), Gakpo (90, 90+3)

West Ham 1

Quansah (21 og)

If Arne Slot is yet to bestow such a compliment – and, more modest in his rhetoric, his praise of anyone so far has tended to be measured – he has installed the Portuguese as his first-choice No 9, a role he only had intermittently under the German. If Slot looked justified after the biggest win of his brief reign, this was a night when Klopp felt vindicated, too.

Jota’s first double since January displayed his predatory instincts, elusive movement and capacity to make scoring look simple. As Liverpool came from behind to beat West Ham United, the catalyst was the one member of Slot’s first-choice team to start. Jota may have felt the outsider in a second-string side but he served as their rescuer after Jarell Quansah, continuing his inauspicious start to life under Slot, accidentally put the Hammers ahead.

But Liverpool turned a deficit into a 3-1 win against AC Milan last week. Their powers of recovery were apparent again as Mohamed Salah, with one, and Cody Gakpo, with the second brace of the night, ensured history repeated itself. Last season, West Ham lost 5-1 at Anfield in the Carabao Cup.

Slot has emulated Klopp in one respect and as the German went on to win the competition last year, he may hope for a repeat. Comparisons with the German are unavoidable, but some are enviable.

Liverpool were comeback kings last season; across two midweeks, they have shown they have not lost the habit after all.