Liverpool offered a long overdue sign of life on Sunday evening edging past West Ham United 2-0 in a game that was far more about relief than reverie. It ended a worrying slide for Arne Slot’s side, whose season had threatened to unravel beyond repair after a run of six defeats in seven Premier League outings their bleakest span in decades.
If matches could sigh in exhaustion, the first half at the London Stadium did exactly that. The atmosphere was heavy even before kick off, subdued by news of West Ham legend Billy Bonds, passing. A minute’s applause rippled sincerely across the ground, but once the tribute ended, the football struggled to rise above the same mournful hush. Momentum came in sporadic bursts, passes echoing into spaces that felt wider than television cameras could ever convey, and chances few enough to count without running out of fingers.
The one player most desperate to change that script was Alexander Isak. Since arriving from Newcastle United in a deal that rewrote domestic transfer benchmarks, expectations had felt like a rucksack full of anvils. Five league appearances without a goal had grown into ten matches of frustration for club and country, amplified by Liverpool’s collective stumble and the Swede’s truncated pre season, curtailed by months of protracted transfer negotiations.
Yet, even amid the lethargy, his quality blinked through like a lighthouse on low power. His early swerved volley drew a sensational point blank save from Alphonse Areola, and shortly afterwards he nearly produced the absurdly spectacular, twisting a falling bicycle kick toward goal only for the West Ham keeper to explode into a human starfish and claw it away.
Florian Wirtz, signed as Liverpool’s central orchestrator for a fee that dented the nine figure mark, also found himself tangled in the club’s broader identity crisis. Industrious and technically neat, the German drifted intelligently into half spaces but without the spark of synergy required to unlock stubborn defenses. His side foot toward the bottom corner shortly before the interval was arguably Liverpool’s cleanest chance of the half, but again Areola stretched low to parry one of those saves goalkeepers make look routine until you consider the geometry and reaction speed required.
The breakthrough, when it arrived on the hour, felt as cathartic as uncorking champagne after misplacing the bottle for two months. A Liverpool corner descended into chaos at West Ham’s edge, but Wirtz remained calm, sliding in Alexis Mac Allister. His cutback was crisp and Isak’s finish was crisper: first time drilled low, nestling into the bottom left corner. He did not sprint; he did not roar. He fell to his knees and exhaled.
Liverpool tightened their grip after that with an air of overdue pragmatism. Mohamed Salah, whose attacking freedom had arguably exposed the right flank in earlier games, remained unused replaced in structure by the hard running Dominik Szoboszlai. Young right back options Conor Bradley and Jeremy Frimpong were sidelined by injury meaning Joe Gomez nursing a troublesome knee returned for his first league start of the campaign. His night would finish with an assist of sorts, his right wing cross bouncing loose for Cody Gakpo to swivel and thump in Liverpool’s late second in stoppage time.
West Ham’s task became impossible in the 84th minute when Lucas Paqueta self destructed. Already booked for disputing refereeing decisions, he earned another yellow for dissent a mere 54 seconds later a miscued protest that ended his evening and any lingering West Ham hopes. Jarrod Bowen had already curled narrowly wide during the hosts brief push for parity, but West Ham would ultimately finish without a shot on target, frustrations loud even if their offense wasn’t.
Slot may still have deep tactical puzzles to solve, and new signings still have relationships to cultivate, but Sunday required no equations. Liverpool needed a foothold however awkward the climb. Three points provided exactly that a rung on the ladder back to relevance, guarded fiercely by a striker who has finally remembered how to score.
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