Luis Diaz has scored his second goal for Liverpool this season as the Reds defeat Bournemouth at Anfield to grab their first Premier League victory this season.
Starting Lineup
Liverpool: Alisson; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson; Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Cody Gakpo; Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz.
Bournemouth: Neto; Max Aarons, Illia Zabarnyi, Marcos Senesi, Milos Kerkez; Joe Rothwell, Philip Billing; Antoine Semenyo, Ryan Christie, Jaidon Anthony; Dominic Solanke.
Liverpool went into the game after a thrilling draw at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea. Luis Diaz sliding goal from Mo Salah’s cross gave the Reds the lead against Chelsea but Axel Disasi’s thumping strike restored parity.
Against Bournemouth, Jurgen Klopp needed no motivation to get the job done after a record 9-0 win over the visitors last season.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth faced an uphill task of overturning a winless spell at Anfield. They have never gotten an away win against Liverpool in all competitions.
It was subpar delivery by Liverpool in the first few minutes of the game. A costly defensive blunder by Alexander Arnold saw the Cherries ferried themselves into the lead.
Solanke was ready to exploit the loophole sending a pass to Semenyo who fired into the bottom right corner to give the Cherries a surprise lead just three minutes into the game.
Liverpool got back with a fiery attacking pace as they pressed for an equaliser but had to wait till the 27th minute to cancel out Semenyo’s strike.
It was Luis Diaz again on target for the Reds for his second goal in two consecutive Premier League start. Diaz picked Jota’s deflected pass and crashed it into the net to draw the game level.
After the equaliser, Liverpool continued on top of proceedings going forward. They landed a golden chance to take the lead in the 35th minutes when Bournemouth conceded a penalty after Rothwell brought down Szosboszlai in the box. Salah stepped up to take spotkick and nearly missed it as Neto blocked it but the Egyptian forward quickly paced to the rebound and crash it into the net to give Liverpool the lead.
Liverpool continued to dominate play after the come-back lead till the first half break.
Nothing changed in the second half of the game. The Reds kicked off proceedings on the front foot after coming from behind to take the lead in the first half.
However, they were dealt a big blow when a studs-up challenge by Marc Allister on Christie saw the former Brighton star sent off with a straight red card in the 58th minute.
Liverpool were down to 10 men but were still strongly in the game. Five minutes after Marc Allister’s red card, Diego Jota extended the lead for the home side after shooting into the net a rebound from Neto.
Both sides made late substitutions but Liverpool still made light of their one-man disadvantage and ran out with a deserved 3-1 win after the final whistle.
