A knockout Fernando Torres hat-trick helps Liverpool defeat West Ham at Anfield and puts The Reds back as number one contenders for the final Champions League place.
As the season moves into its final rounds, it seems that the battle for fourth spot in the Premier League is going to come down to a narrow points decision. On Sunday the opposing red and blue corners of Merseyside traded blows in the slugfest across Stanley Park with Liverpool striking first with their win at Bolton, only to see Everton hit straight back with a 3-1 victory of their own at home to Portsmouth. Now Liverpool have once again edged ahead on the judges scorecards with a 4-0 home win over West Ham.
Liverpool enjoy good start
In their first meeting this season at Upton Park, which only took place on 30th January, The Hammers had defeated Liverpool 1-0 with a late penalty from Mark Noble. The Reds used this rematch to take their revenge in unquestionable style, lead by Fernando Torres, whose trio of strikes floored the visitors.
Liverpool battered West Ham in the game’s first few minutes, with Torres wasting an easy chance before he converted a more difficult opportunity in the eighth minute when he showed sweet feet to convert a Dirk Kuyt cross.
After taking the lead, the exertions of their early display of force seemed to have a negative effect on the home side and the game degenerated as the two teams traded weak blows, none of which hit the mark. As The Hammers began to work their way towards parity on the possession front, they also had the best chance to score the next goal when Luis Boa Morte saw his goal-bound effort scraped wide by Alvaro Arbeloa with Pepe Reina stranded.
Torres completes treble
After much huffing and puffing from both sides it was Torres again who knocked the wind out of the visitors when he headed in another Kuyt cross on 61 minutes to give his side a 2-0 lead.
From this point on West Ham would probably have been happy if the referee had decided to stop the contest early. Steven Gerrard began to dominate the game and provided Torres with a pinpoint ball which the Spaniard met with a diving header that struck the frame of the goal.
The opportunity to take home the match ball wasn’t going to allude Torres, however and on 81 minutes he finally claimed his hat-trick with a controlled finish that took his tally in the league for the season to eighteen. Two minutes later Gerrard made the win emphatic, putting West Ham on the canvas with a haymaker of a drive from twenty five yards.
The victory now sees Everton and Liverpool both having played 28 games and both with 53 points, although Liverpool have the superior goal difference. With neither side apparently ready to blink, this may well be a fight that’s decided when the two go toe to toe at Anfield on 30th March.
