This was the sort of scoreline Liverpool might have envisaged posting rather more often when they spent nine-figure sums on the attacking talents of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz. Except that, as they scored five times in a league game for the first time since clinching the title by demolishing Tottenham, the two £100m men were absent, both injured.
They didn’t need the German’s creativity to be prolific, or the Swede’s speed. Rather, they may have underlined one of Arne Slot’s mantras. During their autumnal slump, the Liverpool head coach said that unlocking a defence often involved a moment of magic or a set-piece. Well as Hugo Ekitike and Dominik Szoboszlai played, Liverpool were not magical. But the team who were statistically the worst in the division at set-pieces in the first half of the season may now be officially the best. Directly or indirectly, they scored from three before the break.
A bad afternoon for Nuno Espirito Santo was perhaps a worse one for Aaron Briggs. When Liverpool fired their set-piece coach at the end of December, it was a response to a regular shortcoming. Now Slot need not bemoan their “set-piece balance”, to borrow his phrase, with such regularity. “There was a time when we were 23 goals behind Arsenal, including penalties, and we have closed the gap a bit,” smiled Slot.
He could savour the set-pieces that beat West Ham United. “It is very pleasing,” he added. “The first half of the season, almost every set-piece we conceded went in. We start scoring from set-pieces and things start looking brighter and better than when you don’t.”
They have turned a corner when it comes to corners. Perhaps in a way that leaves Briggs – who was not hired as a set-piece specialist anyway – looking luckless, given that the first and third goals stemmed from second-phase situations. Maybe the luck is evening itself out over the season for Liverpool, who also benefited from an own goal; just not for Briggs. “Things went back to normal,” reflected Slot. “Maybe one or two small details have changed defensively and offensively.” Not much, he argued, though there is a difference in the personnel in the dugout.
Liverpool’s set-piece record is not perfect without Briggs; they conceded to a West Ham corner, headed in by the unmarked Taty Castellanos. Yet as Liverpool went fifth, returning to the probable Champions League spots for the first time in a month, they now top another table: for most set-piece goals in 2026, with nine. They became just the second team in Premier League history to score three goals from corners in a first half.
Their second may have come straight from the training ground, if not from the most intricate of routines. Szoboszlai simply aimed his corner at Virgil van Dijk, who headed it in. West Ham had their chances to clear the corners for the first and third. The deadlock was broken when, after a bout of head tennis, Ryan Gravenberch picked out Ekitike, who hooked in a low half-volley, though it took a deflection.
The Frenchman ended with two assists to accompany his goal and teed up Alexis Mac Allister to volley in their third and his second in a week. There should have been a fourth set-piece goal, Cody Gakpo slicing a shot horribly wide after West Ham contrived to miss Joe Gomez’s long throw. Instead, the Dutchman ended his goal drought via a touch off Aaron Wan-Bissaka, getting his first in eight games. Slot has resisted the clamour to start Rio Ngumoha and was rewarded by Gakpo’s return to the scoresheet.
Their fifth goal came five minutes into Jeremie Frimpong’s comeback after a month out. His low cross was turned into his own net by Axel Disasi. It may have been a familiar feeling for West Ham, who have conceded five goals in three games against Liverpool in Slot’s relatively brief reign, who have only won once at Anfield since 1963 and who may not return here next season.
They, too, can testify to the significance of corners. “We really made mistakes from set-pieces,” said Nuno. “It is frustrating as a coaching staff. It is something we have been putting a lot of effort and time to put it right.” Instead, they got it wrong. No side has conceded from more this season, and it threatens to be their undoing.
None have fewer clean sheets and they were behind inside five minutes. Thereafter, Liverpool lacked control, but scorelines shape impressions. Slot had received congratulations for Liverpool’s display against West Ham but said: “In my opinion we have played better when we lost and better when we conceded from set pieces.”
And Nuno recognised how his argument looked illogical. “Maybe it is absurd to say it is a good performance when you lose 5-2,” said the West Ham manager. “But there were a lot of positives.” His side had an attacking threat. Liverpool conceded for the first time in four games, Tomas Soucek sliding in to convert the low cross El-Hadji Diouf drilled. Alisson saved well from Crysencio Summerville and Castellanos headed in Jarrod Bowen’s resulting corner. West Ham finished with the higher expected goals score. In the set-piece league, it mattered little.
