A good start by West Ham United at Liverpool culminated in a stunning 3 – 0 victory on the road for Slaven Bilic’s men.
Philipe Coutinho and Mark Noble saw red for hosts Liverpool and West Ham respectively as both sides ended the game with ten men.
The home side named an unchanged 11 from Monday night’s goalless draw at Arsenal, but James Tomkins and Manuel Lanzini started for the Hammers in place of Carl Jenkinson and Kevin Nolan.
Argentine midfielder Lanzini, who was introduced in the closing 15 minutes in the home defeat to Leicester City a fortnight ago, needed only 3 minutes at Anfield to place his side in the lead from an Aaron Cresswell assist.
Liverpool’s £29m signing from Hoffenheim, Firmino, was left at the mercy of the woodwork in the 9th minute, when his audacious left-footed effort struck the upright.
Despite seeing just over a third of first-half possession, the visitors went into the break with a comfortable lead.
Things went from bad to worse for the Reds seven minutes into the second half, as Brazilian midfielder Coutinho received his second booking for a mistimed tackle on West Ham’s Dimitri Payet.
Liverpool sought for a comeback with Christian Benteke climbing highest to meet a James Milner free-kick from the right, but the Belgian could not quite find the target.
West Ham had skipper Noble sent off for a lunging tackle on second-half substitute Dany Ing on the edge of the box, but that did not stop Sakho from steering in a low shot from the edge of the box to cap a fine afternoon away at Merseyside.
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