Liverpool thrash West Ham to go eight points clear

Liverpool thrashed West Ham United 5-0 at the London Stadium to stretch their Premier League lead to eight points on Sunday with Mohamed Salah once again in irrepressible form.

Salah scored one goal to take his tally for the season to 20 and assisted for two others as Liverpool outclassed their hosts.

Liverpool had to wait 30 minutes for their opener but once Luis Diaz gave them the lead they were unstoppable. Salah set up Cody Gakpo for his side's second and then made the result a formality with a close-range shot to make it 3-0 at halftime.

Trent Alexander-Arnold's deflected shot extended Liverpool's lead and Salah then produced a silky run and pass to feed Diogo Jota to round off a great day for Arne Slot's side.

Liverpool have 45 points from 18 games with surprise package Nottingham Forest behind them on 37 having played a game more.

Earlier, Forest climbed to second place in the Premier League with a 2-0 win at Everton while reigning champions Manchester City ended their year with a morale-boosting victory by the same scoreline at Leicester City.

Tottenham Hotspur found little festive comfort though as they were held to a 2-2 home draw by Wolverhampton Wanderers to leave them with one win from their last seven league games.

Fulham and Bournemouth -- both mounting unlikely challenges for European qualification -- drew 2-2 at Craven Cottage, while Crystal Palace came from behind to beat bottom club Southampton 2-1 and ease further clear of danger.

Few would have imagined that Manchester City would end the year outside the top four and six points behind Forest but their calamitous form in the past two months has left Pep Guardiola's side with little hope of winning five straight titles.

It was hardly a vintage performance at Leicester but at least Guardiola could smile on his 500th game in charge as goals by Savinho and Erling Haaland sealed a first win in five Premier League games and their second in 14 across all competitions.

Savinho netted his first goal for City in the 21st minute, firing home a shot from a narrow angle after Phil Foden's effort had been pushed out by Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk.

The home side created plenty of chances to equalise but Haaland headed in Savinho's cross late on to seal the points and push City up to fifth with 31 from 19 games, four behind fourth-placed Chelsea who have a game in hand.

Forest made it five successive league wins as goals by Chris Wood, his 11th in the league this season, and Morgan Gibbs-White were enough to see off Everton at Goodison Park.

The win gives Forest, who battled against relegation for much of last season, 37 points after 19 games.

Norwegian substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen grabbed a point for Wolves at Tottenham with a late equaliser -- a result that edged them two points clear of the drop zone.

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