James Pearce will hardly be alone in offering praise for the ‘outstanding’, in his words, Cody Gakpo after Liverpool secured a 2-1 victory over West Ham United in the English capital.
The Athletic reporter tweeted his post-match thoughts online after the Reds won their third game on the bounce to keep their slim hopes of top four football alive another day.
FT: West Ham 1 #LFC 2: Matip the hero as Liverpool make it three successive PL wins. Had to really fight for it and enjoyed some good fortune along the way. Gakpo, who was outstanding, slammed home the equaliser after Paqueta had fired the hosts in front.
A bit of momentum.— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) April 26, 2023
The results see the visitors climb to sixth in the Premier League table, level on points with seventh-placed Tottenham, and only six behind Newcastle United (though the Magpies have a game in hand to play).
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A lot of credit has to go to the Dutchman (on a reported £120,000-a-week, according to Capology) for finding his feet in a Liverpool side that had been struggling well before his switch to England.
In the former PSV man, we appear to have found a strange but no less delightful combination of some of the best traits of Gini Wijnaldum and departing forward Bobby Firmino, with the forward a powerful presence often dropping deep to link-up play.
Though we could end up playing a season without Champions League football, there’s still plenty of reason to feel excited about the next campaign should the likes of Gakpo, Curtis Jones and Trent Alexander-Arnold carry their scintillating form into 2023/24.