It took the hosts only five minutes to open the scoring with their very first effort of the game.
A smart pass from Ryan Gravenberch found Hugo Ekitike inside the box, and his composed finish beat Mads Hermansen to notch his 11th league goal of the season.
The Reds proceeded to double their lead shortly after the midway point of the half when they took advantage of some static defending from West Ham.
An excellent corner from Dominik Szoboszlai wasn’t dealt with by the Hammers, allowing Virgil van Dijk to head home from close range and putting Arne Slot’s side in full control of the match.
The visitors responded admirably to the second goal, and they came close to halving the deficit before the interval when Alisson Becker produced a vital save to prevent Tomas Soucek from adding his name to the scoresheet.
Despite West Ham’s improvement, the defending Premier League champions proceeded to give their opponents a lesson in being clinical in front of goal.
With half-time on the horizon, the superb Ekitike teed up Alexis Mac Allister following a corner, and the Argentina international made no mistake in smashing the ball past Hermansen to net Liverpool’s third of the afternoon.
To West Ham’s credit, they refused to give up and managed to grab a goal back only four minutes after the restart when El Hadji Malick Diouf’s pass across the face of goal found Soucek, who finished with aplomb to give the visitors a lifeline.
The Irons’ defence continued to be frail, though, and the hosts really should have killed the game off in the 54th minute when Cody Gakpo was presented with a golden opportunity at the far post, but the Dutchman inexplicably missed the target altogether.
However, he soon made amends after receiving a pass from Ekitike, cutting in from the left flank and producing a well-placed deflected shot that found the bottom corner.
With 15 minutes remaining, a lapse in concentration from Liverpool’s defence allowed the Hammers to reduce the arrears back to two goals, as an unmarked Taty Castellanos was able to head the ball past Alisson at the far post.
Yet any hope from travelling supporters of an unlikely comeback was quickly dispelled as Axel Disasi inadvertently put the ball into his own net from Jeremie Frimpong’s attempted pass, capping off the scoring as the Reds saw out the points.
Victory boosts Liverpool’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s UEFA Champions League, while West Ham’s defeat leaves the Irons inside the relegation zone, still two points adrift of safety for the time being.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Hugo Ekitike (Liverpool)
