Daily Times

LONDON: Last season’s Premier League top scorer Mo Salah was on target again as Liverpool began their campaign with an easy win at home to West Ham United. The Egyptian gave Juergen Klopp’s side the lead after 19 minutes from Andy Robertson’s precise low cross. West Ham’s new manager Manuel Pellegrini gave debuts to five of their 10 close-season signings, but his revamped team rarely threatened Liverpool’s expensive new Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson. Poor defending cost them a second goal just before the interval, to Sadio Mane, who added a third after 53 minutes from an offside position.

Substitute Daniel Sturridge made it four just seconds after coming on. Salah’s goal featured an important contribution from new signing Naby Keita, who cost £50 million ($63.84m) from RB Leipzig. Guinea’s Keita was excellent throughout. Liverpool’s other debutant, Alisson, was much less involved as the London side struggled to make chances. Their best one followed a lucky bounce off the referee but Marko Arnautovic miscued his shot. By the interval they had conceded again after leaving three attackers unmarked in front of goal. Mane was the one who knocked in James Milner’s pull-back. He scored Liverpool’s third, which might have been disallowed for offside, and Sturridge came off the bench in the final few minutes to score at the far post from a corner with his first touch.

The result continued West Ham’s dreadful record at Anfield, which now extends to one win in 46 league games. Liverpool, meanwhile, have not conceded a goal in their last six home games in the league – since West Ham scored against them in February. Pellegrini gave debuts to Lukasz Fabianski, Ryan Fredericks, Fabian Balbuena, Felipe Anderson and Jack Wilshere, then introduced a sixth newcomer Andriy Yarmolenko as a substitute. Anderson and Yarmolenko had their moments but overall the visitors were comprehensively outplayed.

Published in Daily Times, August 13^th 2018.