Salah Stars as Liverpool Walk Over Hapless West Ham
In a match that in many ways the scoreline had flattered, Liverpool were by far the superior side as Jurgen Klopp's men walked out of the London Stadium 4-1 victors Saturday evening.
In what was a poor West Ham performance in which they kept shooting themselves in the foot, the Reds took the lead through Mohamed Salah, two minutes later Joel Matip added from a corner to stun the home crowd.
But what was an uninspiring first half changed in the second, with the Hammers getting themselves briefly back in it with a fine goal from Manuel Lanzini to make it 2-1.
But Liverpool struck back instantly through Oxlade-Chamberlain, needing a couple of shots to fire past Joe Hart and extending the away side's lead once again.
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Man of the moment Mo Salah stuck with a sublime low-drilled strike to really put the game to bed for the Reds in what turned out to be an easy nights work.
Liverpool almost made the breakthrough early on, when a cross to the back post fell to Phillippe Coutinho, Joe Hart spread himself well to block the stabbed effort.
Nine minutes in brought the home sides' first dangerous effort, a deflected pass from Lanzini bounced over the Liverpool defence to the feet of Andre Ayew who flicked his effort onto the outside of the post.
What was noticeable from the outset was the Hammers sitting back and seeming content to absorb Reds pressure - with two banks of five on the defensive side of the ball - but this didn't last long.
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The 22nd minute saw a tremendously quick counter from Sadio Mane, breaking off a cleared Hammers corner, ten seconds down the other end in a two on one, Mane slides the ball to Salah for the Egyptian to place home for the lead.
Two minutes later saw another shell-shock to the home side, a Salah corner, miss-hit by Mark Noble brought a reflex save from Hart but this left the rebound a easy tap in for defender Matip - doubling the Reds lead before the break.
Things were going in very frustrating fashion for the home side, and their fans, as proceedings played out in a very similar, unexciting fashion with the Hammers creating nothing in the way of opportunities on goal.
West Ham's half was summed up with fans desperately calling for a shot from Lanzini, who obliged, blasting his shot from outside the area well over Simon Mignolet's goal.
It took ten minutes to get going in the second half but the game soon took a dramatic turn, West Ham having brought on Andy Carroll at half-time.
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Eleven minutes into the half and the Hammers had battled their way back into the game with a smart dink of a goal from Lanzini - a cross played in from Ayew dropped to the Argentine who muscled Joe Gomez off and brought the ball down on his chest, and calmly composed, gave the Hammers hope.
However the revival was short lived, 57 seconds later, Roberto Firmino playing in Oxlade-Chamberlain fired in two shots - both straight at Hart - but the second proving to powerful for the England stopper.
In a minute of madness the match had opened up considerably compared to the first 45, with the home side seemingly more buoyant about their chances at bullying Liverpool's back-line.
59 minutes saw Carroll come into his own when he won an aerial duel, and played in Lanzini on the left side of the Reds box once more, this time the midfielder firing over the goal missing a wonderful opportunity.
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Ten minutes later and as the tie seemingly settling a little more, Firmino battles his way past his defender, using his pace to break past one more and through on goal fires wide of the far post, missing his chance to have killed of the game for the away side.
But Liverpool found an easy breakthrough once more seven minutes later, in a goal not too dissimilar from Oxlade-Chamberlain's, Mane lifted the ball over towards Salah in yards of space on the left side of the box and he only need one chance to control and drill a low effort past a despairing Hart for Liverpool's fourth of the night.
The last 15 minutes were all Liverpool, with Klopp's side just looking to compound the Hammers misery as they continued to fire a number of chances close to their fifth of the evening, Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner and substitute Dominic Solanke coming close.
But with another really poor defensive showing from West Ham, Slavan Bilic will certainly be discussing his future with the owners in coming days.
The Hammers spent too long ball watching and were poor at closing down, Liverpool were much quicker on the night and deservedly walked away with an easy three points.
