AFC Bournemouth v Liverpool: Preview, Team News & Predictions
Liverpool have a chance to pull away from Manchester City atop the standings when they travel to the Vitality to take on an upbeat AFC Bournemouth side on Sunday.
The Premier League’s prolonged winter break has meant that the Reds are pitted in the second half of the fixtures this game week, presently two points ahead of Pep Guardiola’s side – who emerged 3-2 winners at Newcastle United.
Liverpool have parlayed their recent league form into the cup competitions, winning 2-0 against Arsenal before coming back from behind to secure a 2-1 victory over Fulham in the first of two EFL Cup semi final legs.
The Cherries were flying until fate handed them a 3-1 thrashing in North London, winning four matches on the bounce before their latest defeat. They did however manage to score 11 goals while conceding just two in that period.
A 69th minute strike from Justin Kluivert ensured there was no upset in the FA Cup at QPR, and they now know their defense will have to tighten up if they are to improve a run of eight losses in their last nine meetings with Liverpool.
Without further ado here’s everything you need to know ahead of the Reds’ trip to the south.
Team News
AFC Bournemouth
Centre-half Marcos Senesi’s fifth yellow card versus Tottenham means he will have to watch from the sidelines. The defender has made 13 league starts thus far.
While Dango Outtara and Antoine Semenyo are away on international duty, Tyler Adams, Ryan Fredericks, and Darren Randolph are injured.
Liverpool
Klopp and his staff will be casting a keen eye on Mohamed Salah’s fitness in the coming days, with the talisman having trudged off the field in Egypt’s 2-2 draw against Ghana in the AFCON.
“We don’t know anything about it. I spoke with him last night and how it was. They are doing further assessments now and then we will know more. He felt it and we know how rarely Mo goes off, or needs to go off. So it is definitely something, but I don’t have any more information right now,” said Klopp, when asked about the same.
This game comes a little too soon for Trent Alexander-Arnold, who’s out with knee inflammation. Klopp was, however, confident enough to confirm that he along with Dominik Szoboszlai and Andrew Robertson are close to returning.
Kostas Tsimikas, Joel Matip and Thiago Alcantara man a crowded treatment room, whereas Wataru Endo – who was in sensational form before leaving for the Asian Cup – is representing Japan in the international tournament.
Predicted XI
AFC Bournemouth (4-2-3-1): Neto; Aarons, Zabarnyi, Mepham, Kerkez; Christie, Cook; Tavernier, Billing, Sinisterra; Solanke
Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Gomez; Jones, Mac Allister, Elliott; Jota, Nunez, Diaz
Match Prediction
Bournemouth are far from a side that will sit back against the top teams, with Dominic Solanke’s 0.84 xG alone against Spurs highlighting their thirst in front of goal. Indeed, the Cherries have netted three goals or more in four of their last five outings.
It should be an open-ended game from time to time, and it’ll be interesting to see how Liverpool cope without chief creators Salah and Alexander-Arnold.
Still, they should be able to pip Bournemouth.
Predicted score: AFC Bournemouth 1-2 Liverpool
-Roy Akarshak
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Steffen Prößdorf. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.