Liverpool dispatched West Ham United in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
The Reds rode their luck at times against the Hammers, even going behind to a first-half own goal from Jarell Quansah.
However, Liverpool quickly found an equaliser through Diogo Jota and from there never really looked back.
Brilliant work from Curtis Jones laid Jota in to score his second of the game, before Mohamed Salah rifled in a third after coming off the bench at Anfield.
Edson Alvarez was then sent off for West Ham for a silly lunge on Salah, before Cody Gakpo put a little gloss on the scoreboard with two late strikes.
All in all it was a brilliant evening for Liverpool and Arne Slot, who saw a heavily rotated side come up trumps. And watching for Sky Sports, former Red Jamie Carragher noticed two of the lesser seen players linking up nicely.
Jamie Carragher hails Cody Gakpo and Kostas Tsimikas
The scoreline may disagree in this sense, but this was not an easy game for Liverpool.
Having made nine changes to his starting XI, Slot was taking a little bit of a gamble that the Reds would not be caught cold against Premier League opposition. And, as expected, it did take Liverpool a little while to get going.
Players such as Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones, Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez were all making their first starts of the season, meaning things were not quite clicking initially.
With some struggling to find their feet, Liverpool became a little reliant on those who have featured a bit more regularly so far this season.
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Two of those have been Gakpo and Kostas Tsimikas, who started together in the Champions League against AC Milan last week.
And commentating on Sky Sports after Gakpo had hammered in Liverpool’s fourth goal, Carragher said that Tsimikas and the Dutchman had looked like a good partnership in the making.
“He’s [Gakpo] done really well,” raved the Liverpool legend. “We’ve spoken about that combination down that left-side in an attacking sense has been really good between Gakpo and Tsimikas.
“He’s Liverpool’s back-up left winger and it just shows you the quality they have in reserve at this moment.”
Cody Gakpo comes to the party
Liverpool ultimately romped home on an evening of a few standout performers.
Jones did really well in midfield while Jota was the man who really saved the night for the Reds.
But, for us, Gakpo was the one who really stole the show against West Ham. The 25-year-old was brilliant in last year’s Carabao Cup and clearly has a taste for the competition.
There are games when Gakpo just looks at it. He wants to drive at his man, beat him and get shots away. That was what he did all game long.
Tsimikas did well backing his teammate up, too, but it Gakpo was the clear standout of the two.
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