Liverpool Sink West Ham as Isak Breaks Drought and Slot Makes Huge Salah Call
Liverpool finally snapped their slump with a much–needed 2-0 win at West Ham – and Arne Slot made the headline grabber by dropping Mohamed Salah for the first time in a Premier League match since April 2024. Same ground, same drama, but a very different story this time.
Salah’s last London Stadium cameo ended in that infamous spat with Jurgen Klopp and a walk-by warning to reporters, “If I speak there will be fire.” Slot’s decision didn’t spark anything close to that level of chaos, but it did feel like the opening chapter of Liverpool’s next era. The Egyptian watched on from the bench, the £450m rebuild whirring into motion without him.
Liverpool came into the game on a horror run – nine defeats in 12, six in seven in the league – and Slot has been hammered from all angles to shuffle his pack. Even Wayne Rooney said Salah needed a rest. The Dutchman obliged, and his reshaped side delivered exactly what he’s been begging for: energy, control, and a couple of goals from his big-money boys.
Alexander Isak, so far a £125m ghost since arriving from Newcastle, finally burst into life with his first Premier League strike for the club, a sharp half-volley on the turn to end 310 minutes without one. Florian Wirtz, the £116m playmaker, knitted everything together in a way Liverpool fans has been desperate to see.
Cody Gakpo, given licence to drift and drive on the left, bent in the cross for Isak and then thumped home Liverpool’s second deep into stoppage time. Dominik Szoboszlai, freed from those awkward emergency right-back shifts, patrolled the right flank and looked a proper threat again. Joe Gomez returned at right-back for his first league start in 11 months and helped tighten up a defence that leaked 10 goals in three matches.
Slot insisted Salah still “has a very good future at this club because he’s such a special player,” but form tells its own tale. Alan Shearer summed it up bluntly: “Salah can’t complain. He hasn’t been playing well.” Hard to argue. Still, writing off a bloke with 250 Liverpool goals would be madness. Salah has carried this side for years and, with AFCON around the corner, Slot knows he’ll be needed sooner or later.
Isak hopes this is the start of something. “I’ve been waiting for it… sometimes it takes longer than you expect,” he told Match of the Day. “As a striker you need momentum. Hopefully this will help.” Wirtz, meanwhile, looked every inch the classy No 10 Liverpool paid a fortune for, popping up everywhere and setting the tempo like a veteran.
For Liverpool, this wasn’t about sparkling football or big statements. It was about a win – only their second in the league since mid-September – and a sign that Slot’s expensive summer rebuild might actually be settling in. Sunderland visit Anfield on Wednesday, and the big question now is simple: does Salah come back in, or has Slot really started writing the next chapter without him?