Liverpool thrashed West Ham United 5-0 at the London Stadium to stretch their Premier League lead to eight points on Sunday, with Mohamed Salah again in irrepressible form.

The Egyptian has been enjoying a vintage season despite uncertainty over a new contract and scored once and provided two assists as Liverpool dismantled the Hammers at their London home.

He now has 20 goals in all competitions this season and appears to be firing Liverpool towards a 20th league title in Dutchman Arne Slot’s first season in charge.

Liverpool have 45 points from 18 games, with surprise package Nottingham Forest their closest pursuers with 37 points having played a game more.

Fourth-placed Chelsea could cut the gap to seven on Sunday when they take on struggling Ipswich Town.

Surprisingly, Liverpool were unable to make their superiority count over in the opening stage.

But once Luis Diaz swept a shot past home keeper Alphonse Areola after the ball rebounded kindly into his path after 30 minutes, there was no stopping Slot’s men.

West Ham might point to a Mohammed Kudus shot that rattled the post when it was 1-0, but they were never in it.

Salah showed great footwork to tee up Cody Gakpo to make it 2-0 in the 40th minute and was then played in by Curtis Jones to effectively end the contest just before the interval.

Liverpool throttled back after the break but still carved out several chances, and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s shot deflected off the head of Max Kilman to make it 4-0 in the 54th minute.

Slot made a raft of substitutions in the second half, but Salah continued to torment West Ham and produced a mazy dribble before releasing Jota to curl in the fifth in the 84th minute.

Some of the few West Ham fans who remained at the end booed at the final whistle, but Liverpool, as they have been since the start of the season, were simply too good.

(Reuters/NAN)