Recently, West Ham faced a massive 5-1 defeat against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup despite an improved first half performance as compared to the Chelsea match. Further, the Hammers took the early 1-0 lead as well with Liverpool centre-back Jarrell Quansah's deflection on Edson Alvarez's attempt finding the back of the net. A few minutes later, Liverpool equalised the score at 1-1 with a calm and composed header from Diogo Jota inside the box.
Jota gave the hosts a 2-1 lead as well but the Hammers showed some resilience and tried to create a few good chances in the attack to level the score at 2-2. However, there was a turning point in the match when defensive midfielder Edson Alvarez took a red card after bringing Mohammad Salah down, with still twenty minutes remaining in the match. Although the score was 3-1, West Ham were getting some momentum with their build up play inside the final third, however, they were down to ten men and Liverpool took advantage by scoring two more goals after Alvarez was sent off.
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher talks about the turning point in the 5-1 defeat
Now, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has highlighted Alvarez's red card as the turning point in West Ham's 5-1 defeat, saying,
"Of course, they weren’t helped out by the fact they went down to 10 men. For a 10 or 15-minute period, it looked like West Ham were going to get back into the game."Jamie Carragher
This season, Alvarez hasn't been in great form for West Ham since recovering from his hamstring injury in the Copa America 2024. In the previous match, he couldn't keep up with the blistering pace of Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson, which resulted in the Hammers conceding two quick goals in the first half. Against Liverpool, Alvarez made a foul on Mohammad Salah while already taking a yellow card five minutes earlier, which created huge empty spaces inside the West Ham midfield and thus, Liverpool registered a massive 5-1 win to progress to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.