Bournemouth's in-from striker Justin Kluivert will aim to continue in that vein against Liverpool today. — Reuters
Liverpool will find Bournemouth not likely to be pushovers
BOURNEMOUTH play host to Liverpool in a Premier League fixture that many fooball fans have been looking forward to for weeks now.
The prospects of this tie, reinforcing England’s elite competition as the best in the world, are as good as they possibly could be.
These two teams are among the most in-form sides in the game and certainly the most exciting by any measure.
They will clash at Vitality Stadium after scoring five and four goals, respectively, in their last league outings.
The Cherries thumped third-placed Nottingham Forest 5-0, and Liverpool thrashed Ipswich Town 4-1.
That’s the sort of form that has led many to tout this game as a must-watch and energised the appetite of the neutrals.
Indeed, Bournemouth are chasing a 14th game without defeat, and in that unbeaten run, they have twice scored five goals and on two other occasions hit their opposition for four.
That’s good football from Andoni Iraola’s Cherries.
And it’s no wonder that while they are seventh in the Premiership standings, they are just one point behind the reigning champions, Manchester City, in fourth place – the last of the automatic Champions League berths.
Liverpool lost to Tottenham Hotspur by the only goal in the Carabao League Cup semi-final first leg in London three weeks ago, but their form is by no means inferior.
In fact, the only other game Liverpool lost since Arne Slot took in the off-season was the narrow league defeat to Forest on Sept 14.
And that’s what has propelled them to the summit of the Premier League, which they lead by six points going into this weekend and are top of the Champions League after the round-robin despite coming up short in midweek.
After Bournemouth, the Reds take on Spur in the second leg of their Carabao semi-finals on Thursday and then next Sunday they engage in battle with Plymouth in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
As Slot prepares his side for the difficult assignment at Bournemouth, he will almost surely give Justin Kluivert special mention.
The 25-year-old Dutch international, who is following in the footsteps of his father, Patrick, by playing in England, is the club’s top goal scorer with 11 goals in the Premier League.
Liverpool should be wary of his speed and knack for striking from all over the place.
Burkina Faso winger Dango Ouattara, who has got 10 goals in the league so far this season, and Argentine central defender Marcos Senesi have also been key to Bournemouth’s outstanding run, just as several of the others have been.
Slot had an eye on this game even before they played PSV, and that was evidenced in the head coach fielding just two players in midweek from the side that saw gritty Ipswich Town last weekend.
Cody Gakpo and Andy Robertson were the only starters from the Ipswich clash that fell to PSV, and the regulars will be expected to return to the First XI today, including Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz.
That PSV loss, only their third so far this season, underlines the Reds’ form in this campaign – Slot’s first after taking over the helm at Anfield – and it came after they had qualified for the last 16 stage of Europe’s elite tournament.
Given the stealth with which both these sides play and their pedigree leading up to the showdown, many have a score draw down as the outcome.
But with Liverpool’s consistency to date and their vast experience compared to the home team, it could be that the Merseysiders will run the winners by the odd goal.
In the same breath, that would not be a surprise, but Slot can well expect a big fight on their hands today – one that may yet have a bearing on how the top of the standings looks at the end of the day.
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