Benayoun 19

                                                                   Ngog 29

                                                                   Green (og) 59                                                                            

Liverpool cruised past relegation-threatened West Ham, and back into the EPL’s top-six place, an automatic Europa League qualification place.

Rafa Benitez’s men were in complete control from the moment Israeli midfielder Yossi Benayoun forced home Steven Gerrard’s well-struck 19^th minute free-kick with his midriff.

The Hammers were woeful. And had Liverpool needed to extend their winning margin, they would surely have done so.

A below-capacity crowd contributed to a low-key atmosphere. But Liverpool created chances almost at will.

And they doubled their advantage on 29 minutes when Maxi Rodriguez’s cross from the right was firmly half-volleyed home by French striker David Ngog.

Ngog should have doubled his tally from close range five minutes before the break. And Dirk Kuyt had the Hammers’ keeper Robert Green scrambling to make a save a minute later.

Green was unlucky, however, to be credited with Liverpool’s third goal, which ended the game as a contest and a spectacle.

West Ham struggled to deal with another Gerrard free-kick, and Reds defender Sotiros Kyrgiakos’s shot bounced back off the post and into the net off an unsuspecting Green.

Carlton Cole forced Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina into his only save on 67 minutes as Liverpool coasted home.