The great debate now, of course, after Jurgen Klopp’s side walloped Manchester United, is ‘are Liverpool back?’. Is this the turning point for them to really push on to finish in the top four? We are about to find out. The most important aspects of Sunday were the performances of Cody Gakpo, who showed what a brilliant finisher he is, and Darwin Nunez, who has had a difficult season and not always taken his chances. If they play like they did in the second half against United, then they will definitely beat Bournemouth, but I don’t think they will be racking up the goals again. I watched the Cherries against Arsenal and they defended deep and made it difficult for the leaders to get through them, but they carried a threat too. I think Bournemouth will lose on Saturday but it won’t be without a fight.
Having both been involved in two of the season’s most electrifying Premier League matches last week, Bournemouth and Liverpool renew hostilities at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday lunchtime. The Cherries let a two-goal lead slip in a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to leaders Arsenal, while Jurgen Klopp’s merciless men humiliated Manchester United 7-0 at Anfield. Setting the tone for the match after just 9.11 seconds, Bournemouth scored the second-quickest goal in Premier League history at the Emirates through Philip Billing, and the rest of the five-goal thriller would appropriately live up to the billing.
The travelling Cherries faithful were in dreamland when Marcos Senesi doubled their side’s lead in the second half, but their two-goal advantage was quickly wiped out by Thomas Partey and Ben White before a last-gasp Reiss Nelson strike sparked arguably the wildest celebrations that the Emirates has ever seen. Heads were in hands for the disconsolate Bournemouth players, but Gary O’Neil had every right to feel proud about his side’s efforts against the league leaders, having also bravely attacked Manchester City the weekend before during a 4-1 defeat. However, bravery alone does not put points on the board for Bournemouth, who are rooted to the foot of the Premier League table – behind Southampton on goal difference – but they only have a one-point gap to make up to Leeds United in 17th place and are by no means down and out.
Ending a four-game Premier League winless run at the Vitality Stadium would be the first step towards clambering away from danger for the Cherries, who have now suffered three defeats when leading by two goals this season – squandering 17 points from winning positions in total. Only Leicester City (19) have let more points slip away from them while in the ascendancy than Bournemouth, whose Anfield nightmares would have certainly been triggered by witnessing their upcoming opponents embarrass Man United in astonishing fashion. Only at one point was the German seething with rage, as a fan ran onto the pitch to join the celebrations and risked injury to Klopp’s players in the process – a 16-year-old boy has since been arrested – but the Reds boss was otherwise able to rejoice in his side’s best performance in a “long, long time”.
Bournemouth gave Arsenal a good run for their money despite losing two further players to injury ahead of the match, as Jefferson Lerma and Hamed Traore missed out with muscular tightness from the defeat to City a week prior. Only Lerma is in with a chance of returning here, with all of Ilya Zabarnyi, Marcus Tavernier, Lloyd Kelly, Matias Vina, David Brooks and Junior Stanislas still unavailable too. Even if Lerma is passed fit, Joe Rothwell will not cede his place easily after providing the corner for Senesi to head home against Arsenal, and Antoine Semenyo can expect to hold his place with Traore still out.
As for Liverpool, there has been little movement in the Anfield treatment room, with Joe Gomez, Thiago Alcantara, Luis Diaz and Calvin Ramsay all still missing, while Arthur is yet to be considered for first-team selection since undergoing thigh surgery. It remains to be seen if Naby Keita can shake off his muscular problem too, but Klopp should avoid taking any unnecessary risks before next week’s trip to the Santiago Bernabeu – the Guinea man would be expected to start the second leg anyway. Wednesday’s game may be playing on the mind of Klopp, but the Liverpool boss will surely see no reason to alter the XI that destroyed Man United, meaning another start for Harvey Elliott ahead of fellow protege Stefan Bajcetic.
