Preview: AFC Bournemouth vs. Liverpool
Liverpool travel to Bournemouth to defend their lead at the top of the Premier League table.
AFC BOURNEMOUTH VS. LIVERPOOL
| Sunday, January 21st |
Premier League | Vitality Stadium
4:30PM GMT/11:30AM EST
Liverpool come back from their break, hopefully refreshed and ready to defend their position atop the Premier League table in the last half of the season. Their first challenge will be AFC Bournemouth when they visit them at Vitality Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Cherries are on the ascendency in recent weeks. They ended the year strong by taking 19 points from a possible 21 in seven games. Their loss to Spurs on New Years Eve broke a seven-game unbeaten streak. However, they still managed to pull themselves from the relegation zone to a solid 12th place.
Leading the charge for them is former Red Dominic Solanke, who even scored a hat trick against Nottingham Forest two days before Christmas.
Speaking of unbeaten streaks, Liverpool haven’t lost in the league since the refereeing tragedy of the Spurs match on the last day of September. They’ve had the last week and a half off to recharge and will be looking to get another win against Bournemouth.
The Reds sit atop the table, two points clear of Manchester City, Arsenal, and Aston Villa, with Spurs five points behind in fifth place. The race for the title is tight, and Liverpool will be without some key players.
Mohamed Salah and Wataru Endo went off to represent their countries at the beginning of the year. Salah was injured during Egypt’s first AFCoN match, so although he won’t be available for the rest of the group stage, the extent of his injury remains unknown.
Jürgen Klopp’s men aren’t without firepower though. In recent games, Cody Gakpo and hometown star-in-training Curtis Jones have shone in front of goal. Diogo Jota has also returned to fitness, and there’s also Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz to add their own flair.
The defense is where things get a bit shakier. With Andy Robertson, Kostas Tsimikas, Joel Matip, and Trent Alexander-Arnold all unavailable, the back line will look a bit piecemeal. Conor Bradley is set to make his full Premier League debut at right-back while Joe Gomez will take over left-back duties.
Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)
Alisson; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Gomez; Jones, Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Jota, Nunez, Diaz
In addition to those mentioned above, Liverpool will also be without the services of Thiago Alcantara, Ben Doak, and Stefan Bajcetic. Dominik Szoboszlai is in doubt, but likely won’t make it to the bench for this match.
For Bournemouth, Marcos Senesi is suspended due to five yellow cards. Dango Ouattara and Antoine Semenyo are both on international duty. Tyler Adams, Adam Smith, Milos Kerkez, Ryan Fredericks), and Darren Randolph are all either sick or injured.
Solanke missed Bournemouth’s FA Cup victory, but should be back to face his former team.
What the Managers Had to Say
Jurgen Klopp: “They have a really good mix, play football, find direction in the right moments, they use Dom Solanke in a sensational way, the support he gets from the centre, from the wings. The way they defend, really good, really compact. So, that’s proper.”
Andoni Iraola: “They are top of the league, they are the most in-form team in the Premier League and they have lost one game all season when they finished with nine players. If we want to beat them, it’s not enough to just be at our level. We have to do something really good. We have to be at our best, we have to be clinical up front and we don’t want to make any mistakes. It takes a lot to beat these kind of teams.”
The Officials
Referee: Andy Madley. Assistants: Simon Bennett, Nick Hopton. Fourth official: Graham Scott. VAR: Paul Tierney. Assistant VAR: Scott Ledger.
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