Liverpool thrashed West Ham 5-0 on Friday night to keep up the pressure on Manchester United at the top of the Under 21 Premier League table . The Reds moved to within one point of their rivals as a double from Ryan McLaughlin and strikes from Kevin Stewart , Cameron Brannagan and Sergi Canos routed the Hammers at Chester 's Deva Stadium . Unlike previous seasons there will be no end-of-season play-offs , meaning a straight shoot-out for the title . Liverpool 's comprehensive win lifted them above Southampton and Tottenham into second and they still have a game in hand on United . Ryan McLaughlin scored twice as Liverpool beat West Ham 5-0 in the Under 21 Premier League . Liverpool 's emphatic win moved them to within one point of Manchester United at the top of the table . Liverpool moved to within one point of Man United and still retain a game in hand as they chase the title . Liverpool : Vigouroux , Williams , Maguire ( Hart 77 ) , Stewart , Cleary , Chirivella , McLaughlin ( Trickett-Smith 77 ) , Brannagan ( c ) , Canos , Wilson ( Ejaria 68 ) , Smith . Substitutes not used : Firth , Brewitt . Scorers : Stewart 3 ; McLaughlin 6,65 ; Brannagan 43 ; Canos 73 . West Ham United : Howes , Knoyle , Page , Makasi , Pike , Onariase , Powell ( Gordon 63 ) , Nasha ( Carter ht ) , Brown , Cullen ( c ) , Parfitt-Williams ( Diangana 69 ) Substitute not used : Boness . Booked : Page . Having suffered a setback with defeat at Southampton on Monday , Liverpool were looking for a response against a West Ham team looking doomed to relegation to the second tier . And it did n't take them long to make the breakthrough . In the third minute , a throw-in by Brad Smith was n't cleared and Stewart seized upon the loose ball . From the edge of the box , he flicked the ball to create some space and curled it into the top corner . A ssecond followed on six minutes when Harry Wilson 's flick set Smith clear out wide . He crossed and Lewis Page 's ineffective clearance fell straight to McLaughlin to fire home . The London side managed to stem the flow for a little while but further goals seemed inevitable and Liverpool duly extended their lead a minute before half-time . Canos broke clear down the left channel and squared to Brannagan to apply the finishing touch from close range . Sergi Canos celebrates after rounding off Liverpool 's win by scoring a late fifth goal . Cameron Brannagan ( No 8 ) marks his goal with his team-mates at the Swansway Chester Stadium . Brad Smith of Liverpool ( right ) takes on the West Ham defender Amos Nasha . Sergi Canos curls home his goal to round off Liverpool 's comprehensive victory . Sergi Canos of Liverpool and Alex Pike of West Ham compete for the ball . Liverpool players Kevin Stewart 's opening goal after just three minutes of the match . Michael Beale 's side were unlikely to let the match slip from such a strong position and they scored twice more after the break . McLaughlin scored his second when Jordan Williams located the Northern Irishman in space on 65 minutes and Spanish forward Canos rounded things off with a classy finish eight minutes later .
Liverpool thrashed West Ham to move second in Under 21 Premier League . They are one point behind leaders Man United with a game in hand . Cameron Brannagan scored twice in comprehensive win at Chester . Kevin Stewart , Ryan McLaughlin and Sergi Canos also scored .