Liverpool vs Bournemouth 09/02/19

09 February 2019

Obliged to wrap up all three points, Liverpool welcome a vulnerable Bournemouth team to Anfield looking to stretch a four-game lossless home run against the Cherries (W3, D1).

The Premier League toppers come into this encounter following back-to-back league draws that enabled the current runners-up Manchester City to reduce the gap to just three points. The Merseysiders boast an almost perfect home record (W10, D2) having scored 32 goals in 12 PL home clashes (second-best attacking record in PL). The Reds have a tendency to beat their rivals to nil as 63% of their PL triumphs saw them outplaying their opponents without conceding a goal. Although his team failed to keep a clean sheet in five of their last six PL outings, Jurgen Klopp can still rely on the best PL defense that conceded just 15 goals in 25 PL fixtures.

It will be a daunting prospect for Bournemouth to pick up all three points against the Reds, considering they’ve lost all three of the previous H2H meetings with Jurgen Klopp’s crew, conceding 11 goals while failing to find the back of the net during the run. Moreover, the Cherries have suffered seven straight PL road defeats, allowing over 1.5 goals per match in each, while scoring only three goals in the process. Bournemouth’s disastrous record of one win and seven losses and a -12 goal difference (S8, C20) against the top-six Premier League teams can’t encourage Eddie Howe either. Immense defensive problems have seen Bournemouth concede 44 goals in 25 PL fixtures, which is the fifth-worst defensive record in the English top tier.

Provisional line-up – Liverpool:

Gk: Alisson Defense: Robertson – Virgil van Dijk – Matip – Fabinho Midfield: Wijnaldum – Henderson – Naby Keita Attack: Mane – Salah – Firmino

Provisional line-up – Bournemouth:

Gk: Artur Boruc Defense: Ake – Steve Cook – Daniels – Adam Smith Midfield: Surman – Ryan Fraser – Dan Gosling – Stanislas Attack: Joshua King – Solanke