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Liverpool player ratings, winners and losers vs West Ham as Reds reach Carabao Cup fourth round

-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Liverpool is through to the next round of the Carabao Cup after braces from Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo secured a 5-1 victory against West Ham.

The Reds had to come from behind after a horror mix-up at the back resulted in Jarell Quansah putting into his own net, yet Jota struck either side of half-time before Mohamed Salah and Gakpo (2) completed the route late on.

Arne Slot made nine changes for the fixture as a number of stars were given their first starts of the season, leaving just Caoimhin Kelleher and Darwin Nunez as the sole survivors from the side that lined up against Bournemouth on Saturday.

It meant Conor Bradley, Joe Gomez, Kostas Tsimikas, Wataru Endo, and Curtis Jones joined Gakpo, Jota and Quansah in the starting XI, while a first start of his Liverpool career was also handed to summer signing Federico Chiesa, who managed 60 minutes before being replaced by Mohamed Salah.

Winners

The biggest winner of the night certainly has to be Jota, who responded perfectly to being dropped for Nunez at the weekend with a brace on his return to the starting lineup. The Portuguese was withdrawn around the 60th minute mark, suggesting a start may be in order against his former club Wolves on Saturday.

Chiesa also deserves a mention after making his first start for Liverpool following his summer move from Juventus. The Italian winger had featured off the bench in the last two games against AC Milan and Bournemouth, yet gave it a good go during the 60 minutes he featured and even got the assist for the opener.

Gakpo was the star of the show against AC Milan last week and despite being back on the bench against Bournemouth, once again showed his class against West Ham. The Dutch international looked lively throughout the game and grabbed himself a second-half brace.

Diogo Jota leaps highest to head home Liverpool's equalizer against West Ham
Diogo Jota leaps highest to head home Liverpool's equalizer against West Ham

Losers

The season couldn't have got off to a worse start for Quansah. Having already been substituted at half-time against Ipswich on the opening weekend and failing to appear since, the young defender then scored an own goal on his return to the side against West Ham. However, he slotted into the game well after that.

Tsimikas was another who raised a few eyebrows with his performance. Often caught out of position and prone to giving the ball away, but then at other times recovering well and (quite literally) throwing his body in front of the ball. A mixed bag.

It's fair to say that Jones didn't have the best of first-half's and although he showed a glimpse of his class with the assist for Liverpool's second of the game, the young midfielder was another who didn't fully take his chance.

Jarell Quansah scored the first own goal of his career against West Ham
Jarell Quansah scored the first own goal of his career against West Ham

Player ratings

Kelleher - 6

Bradley - 6

Quansah - 5

Gomez - 6

Tsimikas - 6

Endo - 6

Jones - 6

Jota - 8

Chiesa - 7

Nunez - 6

Gakpo - 8

Substitutes

Salah - 6

Mac Allister - 7

Morton - 5

Robertson - 5