'I saw proof of major Liverpool change and it should worry Chelsea and Manchester United'

Liverpool has turned a corner under Arne Slot, winning six of its last seven games. Set-pieces proved vital against West Ham and Chelsea and Manchester United should be wary.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot.(Image: Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images)

Without Florian Wirtz, Liverpool was always going to need to be clinical with the chances it created against West Ham. Few would have expected so many to come from set-pieces, though.

Arne Slot has bemoaned a lack of goals from dead balls all season long (offensively, at least; there has been plenty conceded) but things changed here — and they needed to.

Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah both delivered well consistently and Liverpool’s luck was always going to change at some point. In a complete turnaround, it now leads the way among Premier League sides for goals scored from set-pieces this calendar year.

At the same time, Liverpool has also won six of its last seven games in all competitions. And that it has come when the team is looking better from set-pieces is no surprise.

"When the game is stuck, and you know you can score from a set piece, we lacked that earlier in the season," Cody Gakpo said. "It's good."

That sums it up well. Quite simply, Liverpool had to give itself a greater margin for error. That way, when it doesn’t perform, as it didn't really here, it can still win.

Virgil van Dijk applauds fans on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England, on February 28, 2026. Liverpool won the game 5-2.(Image: Getty)

That was the case plenty of times last season — not every victory was a rip-roaring success of a performance — but the difficult spells are only remembered when they are costly.

"There is no other way to look at it other than we make mistakes," Nuno Espirito Santo said in his post-match press conference, though Liverpool will likely see it differently.

It was at least in part because the Reds did so well — and got a bit of good fortune — that they suddenly found the back of the net regularly via this route.

"It's very pleasing because firstly that is the reason we have won, and second of all because people said we played well," Slot said. "In my opinion, we have played better when we lost and better when we conceded from set pieces.

"The first half of the season, almost every set piece we conceded went in. We start scoring from set pieces and things start looking brighter and better than when you don't."

Wirtz not being available was far from ideal. That he makes such a difference is hardly promising if his injury keeps him out for long, even if a $157 million (£116 million) signing was always going to be a fulcrum around which lots of things were built.

Likewise, Gakpo looked better centrally in his short spell there than through the middle, where he played most of his minutes, and Salah’s threat was very limited again in open play.

But with Liverpool looking more dangerous in attack in other ways — set-pieces — it proved that it has genuinely turned a corner. In the race for the Champions League places, that should be a major concern for Chelsea and Manchester United.