Liverpool came back from a goal down to beat West Ham 5-1 in the League Cup tie earlier tonight.
The Hammers took the lead through a rather comical own goal from Jarell Quansah. But the Reds responded almost immediately with Diogo Jota guiding Chiesa’s acrobatic effort into the back of the net to make it 1-1.
And the Portuguese hitman scored straight into the second half, with a delicate finish past the keeper to make it 2-1.
The game remained 2-1 for most of the second half, with West Ham getting close to equalising several times.
However, Mo Salah released the pressure off Liverpool with a brilliant first-time finish in the 74th minute, making it 3-1.
And the game went out of reach for the Hammers when Edson Alvarez was shown a second yellow and a subsequent red for a rash tackle on the Egyptian just two minutes later.
Cody Gakpo went on to score a quick stoppage time brace to seal a 5-1 victory, knocking the London side out of the competition.
Alvarez comes under harsh criticism for his red card
Former West Ham defender Matthew Upson slammed the 26-year-old for picking up the red card, claiming that it was the ‘hammer blow’ for them.
Covering the game on BBC Radio 5 Live, Upson stated that both yellow cards were inexcusable which ended up costing his team.
He said:
“They crumbled. The red card was a complete hammer blow.”
“Salah’s goal was hard enough for West Ham to take, because it was in a moment where they were actually on top in the game but the substitutions completely changed it.”
“I thought Antonio had a massive impact when he came on, Paqueta, and it had the feel of ‘ooh, West Ham are going to get back into this, this could be a really tight game’.”
“You can’t excuse the decision making of Alvarez. Both yellow cards were just ridiculous tackles in areas of the pitch where he doesn’t need to go in and make it and he’s really cost his team and he’s put a lot pressure on the manager.”
