GW 16: Bournemouth vs. Liverpool

After the first set of midweek fixtures Liverpool visit the Vitality stadium on Saturday. This looks to be a very interesting fixture as both teams are playing well and got wins in their last matches. Liverpool are still unbeaten in the Premier League and sit in 2nd place just 2 points off Manchester City while Bournemouth have overtaken United and moved up to 7th place. Recently, liverpool have been quite dominating in this fixture winning 4 of the last 6 matches between the sides with Bournemouth’s last win against Liverpool coming back in 2016. Although Bournemouth have been very good this season, before their victory last week they had lost 4 consecutive Premier League games and a big worry for them is how they play against the bigger sides. They have been very good against the smaller teams but against teams who were in the top 6 last season, they have lost 4 from 4, which will definitely be on their minds coming into this game.

Bournemouth have been far exceeding their expectations this season and they are doing this by being incredibly consistent against the lower and mid table sides. This season they have only lost 2 games against teams who are currently lower in the table than them from a total of 10 matches which has brought them to the hefty heights of 7th place. Bournemouth aren’t a possession based side and only control an average of 47% of the ball. In the game you would definitely expect Liverpool to control the ball and for Bournemouth to try and launch quick counter-attacks through the likes of Fraser and Wilson. In Bournemouth’s last game they won 2-1 against Huddersfield. Although Huddersfield aren’t a top quality side, they were in good form coming into the match only losing 1 of their last 4 matches before coming up against Bournemouth. Huddersfield ultimately gave Bournemouth a difficult time taking 23 shots in the match while Bournemouth only took 6, however, Bournemouth’s clinical ability shown through as they scored both of their 2 shots on target.

In this match, Callum Wilson will be the Bournemouth player expected to cause havoc for the Liverpool defenders. He is having a superb season and he currently has 8 goals and 5 assists in the Premier League. He is only taking 2.44 shots per 90 minutes but his clinical ability in front of goal has allowed him to score just over a quarter of his shots and half of his shots on target. This Liverpool side are watertight at the back and will need someone with Wilson’s finishing ability if they want to break through. Ryan Fraser is another player who has been crucial to Bournemouth's season. He is still top of the assist chart as he grabbed another one in his last match to move him on to 8 this season. He is also a very good finisher which is shown by the 4 goals he has scored. Just like with Callum Wilson, his immense creativity will be very important against the side with the best defensive record in the league.

Liverpool are having one of their best ever seasons in the Premier League era, yet they still find themselves in 2nd place, 2 points behind the incredible City side. They come into this game in very good form winning all 4 of their last Premier League games. In this period they have scored 9 goals and only conceded 1, not having many problems when facing the smaller sides. Their midweek trip to Burnley ended in a comfortable 3-1 win but the game started of quite hecticly for the Reds. Jurgen Klopp chose a second-string Liverpool lineup in order to give some of the better players a rest for coming games. This included players Salah, Firmino, Wijnaldum and Alexander-Arnold, as well as Robertson and Mane who were suffering from injuries. This meant that Liverpool came into the game looking a bit rusty and not fully prepared and in the first half they weren’t able to create a sufficient amount of chances to take the lead. They played much better in the second half though, and after bringing on Salah and Firmino they were able to get a good result winning 3-1. The game ended up being quite simple for Liverpool as they dominated the possession with 74% and doubled Burnley’s shots on target.

As always Virgil Van Dijk should be the key man for Liverpool in this match. He played incredibly against Burnley winning the man of the match award. In the match he won 12 aerial duels, made 9 clearances, made 1 interception, kept 10% of the entire possession, had a pass accuracy of 88% and got an assist. It was an incredible all round performance from the Dutch central defender and you would expect that he would continue this form into this match. Salah will yet again be the main attacking player that Bournemouth will need to watch out for. He is currently on 7 goals in the Premier League as well as 4 assists as he grabbed another assist in his last game. His best quality as an attacking player is his ability to get into extremely good positions throughout the match which is highlighted by the fact that he ranks 2nd for both shots and shots on target in the Premier League. If he keeps getting in this good positions he’ll definitely be a threat to this Bournemouth side as he’ll be looking to add onto his already impressive goal tally.

Bournemouth have 3 potential injury problems coming into this difficult match. Smith, Lewis Cook and Gosling are all struggling through injuries but while Gosling could be fit for the match, Cook and Smith will definitely miss out. To fill Cook’s position Bournemouth will most likely use Andrew Surman and for Smith, Daniels should be able to slot into his role without to much trouble. Liverpool are also enduring a number of injury problems with Robertson, Gomez, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mane and Solanke all doubts for the match. With Robertson, Gomez and Mane all consistent starters at the beginning of this season, this poses quite a problem for Liverpool. You feel that for Mane and Robertson the replacements in Shaqiri and Lovren meet Liverpool’s high standards whereas Alberto Moreno who would most likely fill in at left back, doesn’t meet the requirements necessary for this intense match. With injuries to 2 of their starting defenders they might have a tough time against this high quality Bournemouth attack.

With Liverpool undefeated in their last 16 Premier League matches Bournemouth will definitely have a difficult time especially with their poor form against top 6 teams. Although Liverpool have a very good defensive record you might expect a high scoring match with 17 goals coming from Liverpool’s last 6 games and with 19 coming from Bournemouth’s last 6. Although Bournemouth got a win in their last match their recent form has been quite poor and this could weigh on them quite heavily in the match and their confidence may be very low coming into the match against an unbeaten side. Overall, I believe the quality of this Liverpool side is too good to let Bournemouth get a result and that they’ll win 2-1.