LIVERPOOL produced a ruthless performance at Anfield today to beat battling West Ham 5-2 in the English Premier League and move level on points with fourth-placed Manchester United.
The hosts were 3-0 up at the break at Anfield thanks to goals from Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister.
West Ham pulled one back early in the second half through Tomas Soucek before Cody Gakpo restored Liverpool’s three-goal lead in the 70th minute.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side scored again through Taty Castellanos, but an Axel Disasi own goal ensured Liverpool hit five goals in a league game for the first time this season.
All three of the Reds’ first-half goals came from set-pieces – with Arne Slot’s side now leading the table in 2026 when it comes to goals from set-plays (excluding penalties).
Liverpool move above Chelsea – who play leaders Arsenal on tomorrow – into fifth, while West Ham remain 18th, two points behind Nottingham Forest.
Also today, relegation-threatened Burnley mounted a stirring comeback to overturn a 3-0 deficit, but were denied a remarkable point as Mikkel Damsgaard struck a dramatic 93rd‑minute winner to give Brentford a 4-3 victory at Turf Moor.
It looked like the visitors were heading for a comfortable win after goals from Damsgaard, Igor Thiago and Kevin Schade inside 34 minutes but Burnley dragged them back into the game.
Jaidon Anthony initiated the comeback as his driven cross was turned into his own goal by Michael Kayode in the dying seconds of the first half, before another strike from Anthony was helped on its way into the goal by Kayode less than two minutes after the restart.
Zian Flemming then restored parity for the second-from-bottom Clarets by powering a header past Brentford goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson in the 60th minute, turning the half-time boos from the Burnley supporters into a surge of renewed belief.
The hosts thought they had claimed all three points when Flemming, who scored late in the 1-1 draw against Chelsea last week, bundled home in the 78th minute only for the goal to be ruled out for offside by the video assistant referee (VAR).
But it was Damsgaard who made the all-important contribution in the game as he scored the stoppage-time winner from a Rico Henry cross.
There was a final twist in the tale as Ashley Barnes sent Turf Moor into raptures with a 99th-minute goal, only for it to be ruled out for an accidental handball by the Burnley striker after a lengthy VAR check.
Brentford now sit seventh in the table with 43 points – only two fewer than Chelsea above them and five behind fifth-placed Liverpool – while Burnley remain 19th with 19 points.
In the other afternoon kick-off, Everton defeated Newcastle United 3-2 at St James’s Park.
With agency reports
