5 talking points from Liverpool's 3-1 win over West Ham

Liverpool remain unbeaten in the Premier League this season, after coming out on top in a hard-fought contest against West Ham on Sunday afternoon.

Following the recent pattern of Liverpool's first-half performances, Jurgen Klopp's side started off slow and should have been 2-0 down in the first ten minutes, if it wasn't for a superb Alisson Becker save and a horrendous missed header from Michail Antonio.

However, unlike most other games this season, Liverpool kicked into gear much quicker after Mohamed Salah buried the penalty he won in the 16th minute, and from that moment on, the Reds piled on the pressure.

Jarrod Bowen's incredible header in the final moments of the first half came at a terrible time and no doubt forced Klopp to re-think his half-time team talk.

A stunning finish from Darwin Nunez and a late finish from substitute Diogo Jota secured the three points for Liverpool, but also their third 3-1 win in a row.

Here are five talking points from the match.

1) Trent injury worse than first feared?

Perhaps the biggest talking point for Liverpool's clash with West Ham occurred before a whistle was even blown.

When the line-ups were announced, fans were hopefully expecting to see Trent Alexander-Arnold's name for the first time since the Reds' 3-0 victory over Aston Villa before the international break.

The 24-year-old – who wore the captain's armband in Virgil van Dijk's absence - was substituted around the 70th minute after receiving treatment on the field, and it was subsequently announced that he had sustained a hamstring injury that would leave him on the sidelines for around three weeks.

However, despite Alexander-Arnold having targeted the West Ham game for his return to action (exactly three weeks since the injury), the defender failed to make the matchday squad.

Missing a player with that much quality always creates problems, but the Reds have managed his absence remarkably well with Joe Gomez and Stefan Bajcetic deputising at right-back and overseeing victories over Wolves and LASK.

Despite the good form, supporters will be keeping their fingers crossed that Alexander-Arnold will be back sooner rather than later, with the Reds facing Leicester in the League Cup in just three days, followed by a very tough trip to Tottenham next weekend.

2) Gomez and Matip step up

Despite failing to keep a clean sheet once again this season, Liverpool's defence - for the most part - performed exceptionally against West Ham.

There have been plenty of question marks regarding the Reds' defensive options going into this season, and no players have received more criticism than Joe Gomez and Joel Matip.

Both players have had more than their fair share of injuries, and have made high-profile mistakes in big games, but against West Ham, they were excellent.

Gomez played superbly at right-back to the point where he did the impossible task of making Liverpool fans temporarily forget about the injury to Alexander-Arnold - that's no easy feat. While Matip absolutely bullied West Ham's attack, and hundreds of Anfield Watch fans have voted the 32-year-old as man of the match.

Meanwhile, Andy Robertson had the left-side locked down, and his corner led to Diogo Jota scoring Liverpool's third.

3) ... but Van Dijk disappoints

One player who had a tough day was Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk.

Out of the back four, he was seemingly the weak leak. He should have done more to get goalside and stop Bowen's equaliser, and he would have also been at fault if the Englishman had scored his free header in the second half.

Van Dijk's saving grace was his nod-down to assist Diogo Jota's goal which made it 3-1 and finish off the game.

4) Another bad day at Anfield for Moyes

A very interesting statistic emerged before the game - and this one will certainly please Liverpool fans.

West Ham boss David Moyes has never won a game at Anfield in his entire managerial career, which is especially nice to hear when considering the Scotsman has managed Liverpool's two biggest rivals in Everton and Manchester United.

Moyes has visited the red half of Merseyside on 19 occasions in his career to date, and after the most recent 3-1 battering at the hands of Klopp, he has lost on 13 of those visits, and drawn six.

5) Words come back to haunt Antonio

This isn't the only thing that will amuse Liverpool fans, other than the win and three points of course, as West Ham striker Michael Antonio was convinced the London club were going to get a result against the Reds, riling up fans on social media.

Antonio said on his podcast, the Footballer's Football Podcast: "I am backing myself over Liverpool. You know what, I think we are going to finish higher than Liverpool this season. I'm putting it out there.

"We've got them this weekend and it's a six-pointer. We've got them," he added.

While his confidence should be admired, unfortunately for Antonio, he was substituted in the second half without a sniff on goal.