EPL wrap: Liverpool crush West Ham, Burley draw against Southampton

  • 25/02/2018
The Reds scored four goals in their win over West Ham.
The Reds scored four goals in their win over West Ham. Photo credit: Reuters

Liverpool have stretched their unbeaten home run in the Premier League to 16 games and moved to second after yet another devastating performance at Anfield gave them a 4-1 win over West Ham.

Mohamed Salah scored his 31st goal in all competitions after setting up Emre Can's opener and Roberto Firmino made it 3-0 before substitute Michail Antonio pulled one back in an action-packed encounter.          

Can headed Liverpool into a 29th-minute lead after Salah swung in a corner and the Egyptian doubled the advantage in the 51st when he drilled an unstoppable shot into the far corner from 10 metres past the wrong-footed Adrian.      

Firmino added the third six minutes later as he rounded the West Ham keeper and Sadio Mane scored Liverpool's fourth with a simple tap-in after Antonio had given visiting fans something to cheer about with his first touch of the ball.           

Meanwhile Chris Wood was an unused substitute in Burley's 1-1 draw against Southampton.     

Chris Wood.
Chris Wood. Photo credit: Getty Images

Manolo Gabbiadini scored a 90th-minute equaliser for the Saints who climb out of the Premier League relegation zone. 

Earlier, an own goal by Stoke City keeper Jack Butland gifted Leicester City an equaliser in a 1-1 draw at the King Power Stadium and denied Paul Lambert's side a rare win on the road.

After Stoke took the lead through Xherdan Shaqiri's third goal in successive league games just before the interval on Saturday, Butland parried the ball into his net when under no obvious pressure from Marc Albrighton's 70th-minute cross.          

Jack Butland.
Jack Butland. Photo credit: Reuters

Butland's mistake was made all the more embarrassing by the presence of former England, Leicester and Stoke hero Peter Shilton in the stands although manager Paul Lambert refused to blame his keeper for the dropped point.           

"He is the best goalkeeper in Britain," said Lambert. "Since I have been at the club he has been huge. The mistake will be the making of him because it is all about how you deal with these things."           

Brighton were impressive as they dismantled Swansea 4-1, while Huddersfield also had a win, 2-1 over last-placed West Brom.

Bournemouth and Newcastle played out a 2-2 draw

Reuters