The Match, The Stat: West Ham 0-2 Liverpool

A performance that was much needed from Liverpool in almost every way.

Nov 30, 2025

Top Five Stats

Liverpool had five shots on target without conceding any. It was only the 12th Premier League game in which they have done this in the last 11 years.
Their three Opta-defined big chances were all shot (one) or created (two) by Cody Gakpo.
These were among the joint-worst teams in the Premier League for conceding set piece goals prior to kick-off, on nine goals each. West Ham were 5-1 ahead for scoring them but the Reds took the lead through a throw-in situation.
Liverpool have now lost just one of their previous 21 league games that were 0-0 at half time. It was that Nottingham Forest game last season, with Nuno Espírito Santo the successful manager.
Mohamed Salah was an unused substitute for the Reds for only the fourth time. The last occasion was the first match of lockdown football, a goalless draw at Goodison Park.

Match Review

Liverpool won 2-0 at West Ham with the sort of performance that was exactly what they needed. It was perhaps their most controlled game of the campaign.

The victory featured a late goal, as most of the Reds’ wins in 2025/26 have. The difference here was that Liverpool were already deservedly in front at the time. They had opportunities to take the lead long before they got round to actually doing so too.

When the team news dropped, there was a clear question concerning the system Arne Slot was going to deploy. As Joe Gomez was included with Ibrahima Konaté also retained, the potential for a back three was there. Instead, it was the regular 4-2-3-1 system with Dominik Szoboszlai playing the role usually occupied by Mohamed Salah.

It’s always generates headlines when the Egyptian is left out. The last time it occurred in the league was also at West Ham, in 2023/24. Salah had a spat with Jürgen Klopp as he waited to come on, as you may recall.

The logic for Slot using his hardest working player on the right of the attacking midfield three was sound. El Hadji Malick Diouf is the only West Ham player with more than one league assist this season, so keeping an eye on him made sense. He created one chance but didn’t tee up a fourth goal of his debut Premier League campaign.

While Szoboszlai played well enough, he was ably assisted by Gomez who had a fine game. Him doing so well may at least partially explain why Konaté also had a decent afternoon

Another pre-match musing was that perhaps Gomez would stay back to allow Milos Kerkez to play more like his Bournemouth self. Not a bit of it; the right-back was frequently in attacking positions, picking up an assist for Cody Gakpo. It was just the third goal Gomez has created on the road in the Premier League, with the first of them occurring in his debut for the club.

West Ham 0-2 Liverpool Average Positions via Sofascore

The key building block of the win was ensuring nothing much happened early on. The Reds hadn’t got past the 29th minute without conceding in any of their previous six away games. Hearing the Sky Sports commentator say “not the greatest spectacle” as the players trudged off the field following the half time whistle was music to Liverpudlian ears. This was exactly what Liverpool needed, 45 minutes almost entirely free of drama. On such halves can away wins be built.

The most notable opportunity of the first half - indeed, the match, at least on xG - fell to Alexander Isak. He has now missed his last six Opta-defined big chances, with the only one he has converted this season occurring against Championship side Southampton.

Fortunately he was on the mark from a lower value shot after the break. It was Isak’s finishing that made the difference, as he added 0.59 in the post-shot xG model. A one-in-six shot became a three-in-four chance. Pick that out.

An earlier second goal would’ve been welcome, even though Liverpool never really came under serious threat. Away games which are 0-0 at half time then 2-0 at the end are rare, even for a big club. This was only the Reds’ 16th such match in the Premier League era.

Slot had already overseen two, at Ipswich and Brentford last season. This was more like the former, with the starting centre-forward opening the scoring in the 60th minute both at Portman Road and today. If the exact details won’t be repeated too often, the control Liverpool displayed at the London Stadium is exactly what they need to produce regularly.

Embrace the low-event boredom, Reds.