Liverpool started the season with an emphatic 4-0 win on Sunday against West Ham United at Anfield. The Reds are rated as one of the biggest challengers to Manchester City’s Premier League crown this season, and they got off to an impressive start with goals from Mo Salah, 2 goals from Sadio Mane and a late goal from Daniel Sturridge sealing the win.
Team
Big money signing Alisson started in goal for Liverpool with Andrew Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk selected as his defence in front of him. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp had a selection headache regarding his centre of defence with Dejan Lovren, Klavan and Joel Matip all unavailable, thankfully Gomez was passed fit to start.
Klopp has a number of midfield options after strengthening his squad this summer, but for the first game of the season he selected James Milner, Gini Wijnaldum and new signing Naby Keita to start.
There was no surprises with Klopp’s attacking selection with Roberto Firmino, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane all starting.
The Match
Liverpool totally dominated the game from start to finish, it really was an impressive performance from Klopp’s team, although West Ham didn’t provide much of a test.
The visitor’s defensive tactics of playing a high line fell right into Liverpool’s hands as they created numerous chances throughout the 90 minutes.
It was no surprise to see Salah score the first goal of Liverpool’s season in the 19th minute after he knocked home a cross from Andy Robertson.
It was a surprise that Liverpool took so long to add a second goal with their domination of the first half, but it came right on the stroke of half-time when Mane turned in a cut-back from James Milner.
Liverpool added a third goal early in the second half to end the game as a contest when Mane drilled an effort past the hapless Fabianski after receiving a clever pass from Firmino, however, replays showed the Senegalese was marginally offside.
The remainder of the game was nothing more than a training session for Liverpool but Daniel Sturridge put the icing on the cake of an impressive performance by scoring with his first touch after coming on for Salah.
Summary
This really was a very impressive performance from a Liverpool team that are expected to be Manchester City’s biggest challengers.
Klopp’s team dominated from start to finish and West Ham couldn’t cope with their energy and movement.
Liverpool’s attacking trio started off where they left off last season, with Salah opening the scoring before Mane scored a brace.
New signing Keita and Milner shone in midfield as they were influential in Liverpool’s win, but the most noticeable improvement from last season was how strong the Reds’ bench was, with Clyne, Shaqiri, Karius, Fabinho, Lallana and Sturridge all good options for Klopp.
Next up for Liverpool is a testing trip to Crystal Palace next Monday night.
The Kopite View 
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