Liverpool ended a three-game losing streak with a 2-0 victory over West Ham United on Sunday, climbing to eighth in the Premier League table. Alexander Isak opened the scoring in the 60th minute before Cody Gakpo sealed the win deep into stoppage time. West Ham finished with ten men after Lucas Paqueta was sent off late in the match.
Manager Arne Slot revealed he ignored advice from his performance staff to keep midfielder Florian Wirtz on the bench. Wirtz, who had been sidelined with injury for a week and a half and had only one training session, delivered arguably his best performance for the club. Slot said: 'Performance staff were constantly telling me he needs to go out ... to a certain extent it was maybe a bit of a risk, but some situations ask for an exception, and today was one of them.'
Captain Virgil van Dijk played down the significance of the league table, saying: 'There's no point for us to look at any table, we didn't do it last year and we shouldn't do it now either. The only thing we should look at is trying to find consistency.' He added that the team were pleased with the clean sheet but insisted there was no extra determination required beyond the norm.
The Reds now face a tough home game against high-flying Sunderland followed by an away trip to Leeds United. Slot hopes his squad will learn from their poor run and continue to climb the table in both domestic and European competitions.
