By Steve Northover

Liverpool's resurgent chase for a place in next season's Champion's League overcame a new hurdle, coming out 5-2 winners against West Ham at Anfield.
Still no where near the best, the Reds were edge past a struggling, but by no means toothless. Hammer's side looking to edge their way to safety. The home side raced onto an early lead, with Hugo Ekitike peeling from the left of the West Ham penalty box, after the defending side failed to clear their lines. 

Despite this, Liverpool were never really able to turn the goal into any form of dominations, and  West Ham remained a threat throughout the first half - despite being unable to find the net themselves. Even when Virgil Van Dijk scored Liverpool's second after 23 minutes, Liverpool never felt truly settled, with West Ham coming close to pulling at least one goal back, if it wasn't for some lackluster finishing. With that in mind, on the stroke of half time, Alistair McAllister's 43rd minute deflected volley appeared to kill off the game entirely.

But whatever Arne Slot said at half time didn't work, as West Ham came out for the second half  much brighter and clinical then they had been at any point in the first forty-five culminating in Tomás Soucek getting on the end of a El Hadji Malik Diouf cross. Indeed, whereas Liverpool were able to hide their less than stellar performance with goals. The second half was characterised by long periods of scrappy, uncoordinated play, marked by an ever more confident West Ham and a nervous home crowd.

So even when Liverpool scored their fourth via a Cody Gakpo strike from a tight angle, and put the game to bed late on with a Axel Disasi own goal albeit spawned by a returning Jeremie Frimpong strike Liverpool never looked settled.

Perhaps more worrying, was despite Liverpool appearing to be free scoring , even if they were leaky at the back, none of that seemed to produce the type ‘ferocious’ atmosphere you'd usually expect in matches like this. In fact, the home crowd appeared incredibly nervous, almost expecting Liverpool to lose, even when the result was beyond doubt.

This doesn't bode well for the rest of the season, given the importance of the run-in, both in the league and in Europe. There will be moments when the team will need the crowd, and vice versa, if neither can be riled into life, then the likelihood of Liverpool not winning anything this season grows ever more certain.

The reality is that Liverpool are now up to fifth, three points ahead of Chelsea and level with Manchester United, both of whom play tomorrow. More tantalising, is Aston Villa, three points ahead in third, are currently in a free fall, having one win in their last seven games. With Liverpool's next three games being against Wolves who beat Villa on Friday, Tottenham and Brighton, there is a small chance that the Reds could be as high as 3rd before the end of March.

So with that considered, and despite everything that has happened this season, Liverpool are now in a position to push on into the final third of the season, knowing that their destiny for what happens in the 2026/27 season is very much in their own hands.