Had anyone said this about Liverpool beating Bournemouth a couple of years ago, it would’ve sounded ridiculous, but the Merseysiders’ victory at the Vitality on Saturday was an extremely hard-fought one and of absolutely immense importance in the Premier League title race. The fact that the two teams considered Liverpool’s main rivals in the race, Arsenal and Manchester City, both suffered defeat at this stadium, provides some perspective in this matter. Furthermore, Bournemouth went through December and January without losing a single game, a run of 11 games in total – enter Liverpool.
What doesn’t seem so out of the ordinary is that both goals in the game were scored by Mohamed Salah, confidently converting a penalty in the 30th minute, and showing a touch of sheer class in the 75th.
The teams
It should be said that Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola had a number of players miss this game through injuries, obviously a burdening circumstance when you host the Premier League leaders. It arguably hampered his attacking ranks the most, with both designated strikers, Evanilson (broken foot) and Enes Unal (ACL), out of action, as well as winger Luis Sinisterra (knock). The latter was perhaps the easiest to make up for, with a number of similar players of high quality at Iraola’s disposal.
Defenders James Hill, Julian Araujo (both hamstring), Adam Smith (muscle) and Marcos Senesi (thigh), as well as midfielder Alex Scott (meniscus), were unavailable as well.
Kepa Arrizabalaga was in goal. Centre-backs Illia Zabarnyi and Dean Huijsen were flanked by Liverpool-linked Milos Kerkez on the left and Lewis Cook on the right. Ryan Christie and Tyler Adams paired up in the middle of the park, with the trio of David Brooks, Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo deployed behind Dango Outtara in attack.
As for Liverpool, they entered this game with their medical room clearing almost entirely, with Diogo Jota, Curtis Jones (both muscle) and Darwin Nunez (illness) back in contention. Joe Gomez (hamstring) is also back in training, but this game came too soon for him to be involved. Coach Arne Slot decided to leave out Federico Chiesa, after the Italian winger played the full 90 minutes in midweek, for the first time since joining the club.
A number of key players were rested in the final round of the Champions League group stage – a narrow defeat away to PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday – but they were all recalled here. Alisson Becker stood between the posts, with centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate flanked by Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right and Andy Robertson on the left. Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister were in deeper midfield roles, with Dominik Szoboszlai a bit futher up. Salah was deployed on the right in attack, Cody Gakpo on the left, and Luis Diaz through the middle.
Key moments
The first thing to say is that Bournemouth arguably didn’t deserve to lose this game. They fought bravely and in an organized manner, often looking the better team on the pitch and threatening Liverpool’s goal quite seriously on a number of occasions. They were obviously motivated to add Liverpool to the list of giants beaten at the Vitality and played like a proper team, with every player notably involved.
The Cherries started causing problems for the Reds from the first whistle. They took their first shot within 10 seconds, as Semenyo dispossessed Alexander-Arnold, charged forward and fired low from the edge of the box, testing the alertness of Alisson. Liverpool then almost got a goal from a scramble in Bournemouth’s box after a corner. Alexander-Arnold had another moment of questionable judgement soon as his feeble attempt at a headed clearance enabled the Cherries to pick it up inside the box, and Kluivert almost surprised Alisson from a very tight angle, but the Brazilian goalkeeper is simply too good for that.
It took Liverpool almost 16 minutes to hit the target for the first time, as Gakpo cut in from the left and fired a bouncing shot from range to finally give Kepa something to do. But Semenyo soon gave Alexander-Arnold another round of hell as he dribbled away from him inside the box and fired sharply past Konate from close range, hitting the post.
But it was Semenyo who lost the ball just inside Liverpool’s half before the visitors produced their best chance up to that point. Gravenberch dispossessed the Bournemouth winger, Diaz, Szoboszlai and Salah combined quickly to engage Gakpo further up, and the Dutchman spotted Szoboszlai’s run down the right, giving the ball back to him just in time for the Hungarian to have a clear shot from seven or eight yards. It was, however, a poor finish, straight into the well-positioned Kepa.
And then came that crucial moment, when Robertson whipped a long pass in behind the Bournemouth defence for Gakpo to chase. Cook tried to catch up with the Liverpool attacker, but he was a bit unlucky as he clipped his opponents foot from behind. It was a very slight touch, but quite sufficient to bring a sprinting Gakpo down inside the box. Referee Darren England gave the penalty straight away, a decision confirmed after a brief VAR check. Salah stepped up and put Liverpool ahead.
Bournemouth thought they had gotten back level quickly when Semenyo attacked Alexander-Arnold from the left again and gave it to the overlapping Kerkez. The left-back pulled it back into the box and Brooks fired accurately past Alisson, only to see the linesman’s flag raised for Kerkez being offside. It took the VAR quite some time to make sure, but the call was confirmed and the goal ruled out.
Alexander-Arnold had a good chance to make up for his previous mistakes near the end of the first half as he made a run into the box to get on the end of a Salah cross, but his header was far too feeble to trouble Kepa. Liverpool tried to double their lead before the break through Szoboszlai and Gravenberch as well, but neither midfielder managed to hit the target from a good position.
Bournemouth redoubled their efforts after the restart, and Kluivert came close twice in the opening minutes of the second half, sending a header off target and seeing Konate block his volley from inside the box which would’ve otherwise undoubtedly gone in. A fine piece of intricate Cherries play ended with Christie setting Semenyo up for a great chance, but Alisson stepped up to save his team once more.
It should be said that Liverpool were very lucky in this period, early in the second half, to remain with 11 players on the pitch. Mac Allister, already on a booking, committed another undoubtedly bookable offence and the foul was given, but the cards remained in the referee’s pocket, to the loud dismay of the home crowd. Slot reacted quickly, withdrawing the Argentina international to avoid further risk and sending Curtis Jones on instead.
Soon after, Kluivert had a moment which will likely haunt him for a long time. Substitute James Tavernier had just come on and fired from outside the box, beating Alisson but only hitting the post. The rebound fell most kindly for Kluivert, unmarked at six yards, with the goal gaping wide, and yet, he failed to control his shot properly and it went unbelievably wide.
And then Salah showed Kluivert and everyone else in the stadium what exactly it means to be a world-class attacker.
Kluivert, blood likely still pumping from the wasted chance, tried to force his way into the Liverpool box and was crowded out. Jones picked it up and combined with fellow substitute Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz, before receiving the ball again just outside the Bournemouth box. He extended the pass to the right flank for Salah, who took his time as he approached Kerkez, and then, out of nowhere, simply lifted the ball straight into the far top corner, leaving Kepa rooted to the spot. It looked the easiest thing in the world.
Bournemouth didn’t lose their purpose after conceding the second goal and they still attacked, aiming to get back into the contest. Semenyo was still very motivated and came very close from around 20 yards, hitting an inch or two wide of the post. Then he broke down the left wing again an pulled it back into the box, forcing a clumsy reaction from Gravenberch who almost scored an own-goal, but Alisson was superb again to spare his midfielder some blushes.
Calls that spark debate
There were two decisions from Darren England, both in Liverpool’s favour, which sparked debate in the aftermath of this game. The fans of Arsenal, the team closest to Liverpool in the Premier League standings, felt particularly aggrieved, more so than those of Bournemouth.
The first was the penalty decision which resulted in Liverpool’s opening goal, but realistically speaking, there was little to discuss here. The contact between Lewis Cook and Cody Gakpo, though minimal, was obvious and undoubtedly sufficient to bring the Liverpool attacker down at full pace. It came from behind, and it was a clear clip on the foot, and there was no way for Gakpo to stay on his feet. It was a foul, it happened well inside the box, and the penalty was the correct decision.
The other was less clear and a lot more controversial – the decision not to award a second yellow card to Alexis Mac Allister when the Liverpool midfielder went for a volley just outside Bournemouth’s box and inadvertently whacked David Brooks instead. As it wasn’t a case for a straight red card, the VAR had no right to intervene.
There were certainly elements of a bookable offence here, and any feelings of injustice from Bournemouth’s point of view (and by extension, Arsenal’s) would be understandable.
England, the main culprit behind the outrageous denial of a Liverpool goal against Tottenham Hotspur last season, may have done some compensation on this occasion by forgiving Mac Allister, and if so, he was clearly wrong. For their part, Liverpool will point to Spurs midfielder Lucas Bergvall being forgiven a second yellow card in a similar way before going on to score the winning goal in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal, but that would, of course, be completely off the point. Two wrongs can hardly make a right.
Had Mac Allister been sent off, it stands to reason to expect the game would go differently from that point on, but entering such realms of guesswork makes no sense.
Liverpool on course in title race
Be that as it may, Liverpool have booked important three points on a very difficult trip to the south coast, and with Arsenal set to take on Manchester City at the Emirates on Sunday, their position in the Premier League title race is stronger than it was before.
At the moment, Liverpool top the table nine points ahead of Arsenal and Nottingham Forest, 15 ahead of City, and when Arsenal and City face each other on Sunday, the Merseysiders will still have a game in hand on all their rivals.
Liverpool’s attention now turns to the second leg of the cup semifinal against Spurs, scheduled to take place at Anfield on Thursday, and they have a lot to do there going into the clash a goal down. After that, they’ll take on Plymouth Argyle in the fourth round of the FA Cup, and their next Premier League match is the postponed Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park on February 12th. If they beat their neighbours, they will strengthen their lead further.
The only possible problem Liverpool could have after this game is an injury picked up by Alexander-Arnold. The England international went down and asked to be substituted in the 70th minute, with Conor Bradley stepping in off the bench. Speaking to the press later, Slot said he still waited to hear from the medical team, but he didn’t expect the 26-year-old right-back to be ready for the Spurs game.
Bournemouth will also face Everton – the Toffees are their opponent in the FA Cup next week – and then they’ll have a good chance to return to winning ways in the league as they travel to last-place Southampton, host relegation-threatened Wolves, and play away to faltering Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Cherries sit seventh with 40 points at the moment, and their candidacy for European places next season remains strong.
- Soccer News Like
- Be the first of your friends!
