Come the end of the season Arne Slot will be hoping he can laugh about last week’s defeat to Nottingham Forest. Since that pitiful performance, Liverpool have made light work of Milan in the Champions League and pummelled Bournemouth in a perfect response to the first setback of the Dutchman’s tenure.
Where Forest made Liverpool underperform with a disciplined display, Bournemouth allowed Ryan Gravenberch and his midfield colleagues to dictate the match and then offered up an opener that ended the contest. Luis Díaz took personal responsibility for causing a lot of the damage with two goals and Darwin Núñez, with a point to prove, added a third to banish the memories of seven days ago.
Liverpool will have thought they were in for another testing match after an eventful opening four minutes, in which Ryan Christie was booked for a foul on Díaz within 20 seconds of the first whistle and Antoine Semenyo had a goal disallowed. The winger thought he had given Bournemouth a surprise lead after fine work from Justin Kluivert allowed the winger to slide the ball in at the far post as Liverpool pondered a second successive Premier League home defeat.
The assistant referee saw no issue with the goal, only for VAR to silence those fans who had made the 524-mile round journey from the south coast by acknowledging the clear offside. The most galling aspect for Bournemouth was the lack of necessity for Semenyo to be ahead of play.
Kepa Arrizabalaga arrived at Bournemouth on loan from Chelsea in the transfer window desperately hoping to offer some evidence of why he was once the most expensive goalkeeper in football history. He made a number of aesthetically pleasing saves to keep out two Díaz shots and was quick to smother a Mohamed Salah chance. All that was forgotten when Ibrahima Konaté lumped a long ball forward; Arrizabalaga thought he could come to claim it outside the box, only for him to belatedly realise his foolishness as Díaz rounded him and shot into an empty net.
The mistake was still playing over in his head when Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold combined on the halfway line. The full-back sprinted 30 yards up the pitch and slid a pass to Díaz who put the ball under Arrizabalaga for Liverpool’s second goal in less than three minutes. If anyone was worried about a repeat of the defeat to Forest, their fears had been allayed.
after newsletter promotion
All of Bournemouth’s problems were born in South America as Núñez played a one-two with Salah before heading down the right wing and cutting in, allowing him to bend a shot into the far corner. The Uruguayan was clearly emotional as he celebrated in the corner in what was his first start of the season and first goal in 15 Liverpool games. Slot had backed Núñez to come good in the week and he repaid the faith.
It was a similar level of domination after the break as Liverpool were unlucky to not add to their lead through a mixture of last-ditch defending and less clinical finishing. Liverpool were, however, out of sight, allowing Slot to send on Federico Chiesa for a Premier League debut in front of a buoyant Anfield crowd and get Díaz and Núñez the standing ovations they merited, while Caoimhin Kelleher, replacing the injured Alisson, comfortably dealt with the few shots he had to deal with. Liverpool had their glitch but are back up and running.
Share
Print
