📝Liverpool vs. Bournemouth: Match Preview & Line-ups

 Competition:

Premier League

Date: Saturday, 7 December 2019

Time: 3:00 PM (UK),

<span style="font-family:times new roman,serif; font-size:12.0pt">

10:00AM EST

Venue: Vitality Stadium

Referee: Chris Kavanagh

Liverpool

reestablished their 11-point lead over Manchester City and sit eight points clear of Leicester City after crushing Everton 5-2 in Merseyside derby at Anfield that makes it 32

Premier League

games undefeated for

Liverpool

, their longest run in top-flight history.

Klopp

brought up his 100th

Premier League

win in just his 159th game in the competition; only Jose Mourinho has reached the landmark quicker and no

Liverpool

manager has ever made it to a century of top-flight victories in fewer games.

The German is fast earning his place alongside the likes of Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, and Sir Kenny Dalglish in the

Liverpool

history books, but he will know as well as anyone that the class of 2019-20 need to convert this incredible form into a first league title in 30 years if they are to go down as true club legends.

Bournemouth

on the other hand,

have lost all four of their games against Newcastle United, Wolves, Tottenham Hotspur, and most recently Crystal Palace

after beating Manchester United 1-0 at the start of November, slipping to 12th in the

Premier League

table.

Last five meetings:

09 Feb 2019:

Liverpool

3-0

Bournemouth

(

Premier League

)

08 Dec 2018:

Bournemouth

0-4

Liverpool

(

Premier League

)

14 Apr 2018:

Liverpool

3-0

Bournemouth

(

Premier League

)

17 Dec 2017:

Bournemouth

0-4

Liverpool

Premier League

)

05 Apr 2017:

Liverpool

2-2

Bournemouth

(

Premier League

)

Aggregate Score:

Bournemouth

(LLLLD) 2-16

Liverpool

(WWWWD)

Head to head result:

One of

Bournemouth

's most famous victories came in this very fixture almost exactly three years ago, when they came back from 3-1 down in the final 15 minutes to win 4-3 courtesy of Nathan Ake's stoppage-time winner.

That remains

Bournemouth

's only win in 15 previous meetings with

Liverpool

across all competitions, a run which also includes 11 defeats and three draws.

The

Merseysiders

have won each of the last four meetings by an aggregate scoreline of 14-0, including 4-0 triumphs on both of their last two visits to the Vitality. This will be the fourth season in a row that they have faced

Bournemouth

at Dean Court in December.

Key Statistics:

·        

Bournemouth

are winless in their last five

Premier League

meetings with

Liverpool

(D1 L4) since beating them 4-3 in December 2016. The

Cherries

have conceded at least twice in each of their last seven against the

title-chasing

Reds

.

·        

Liverpool

have won their last four

Premier League

games against

Bournemouth

by an aggregate score of 14-0, including two 4-0 wins at the Vitality Stadium.

·        

Liverpool

have won their last four

Premier League

games against

Bournemouth

, by a margin of 3+ goals each time. They've never won five consecutive top-flight games against an opponent by such a margin before.

·        

Bournemouth

have lost each of their last four

Premier League

games, all of them by a 1-goal margin. They last lost five consecutive league games back in March 2013 as a League One side.

·        

Liverpool

have won 27

Premier League

matches during 2019, matching their tally from 2018. They last won more top-flight matches in a single calendar year in 1987 (28 wins).

·        

Liverpool

have won 18 of their last 19

Premier League

games at 3 pm on a Saturday (D1), including each of their last 16 in a row. It's the longest winning run on that day and kick-off slot in

Premier League

history.

·        

Liverpool

's Mohamed Salah has scored in all four of his

Premier League

games against

Bournemouth

(six goals in total), the only side he's got a 100 percent record against in the competition.

·        

After a run that saw him net five goals in four games,

Bournemouth

's Callum Wilson is without a goal in his last eight

Premier League

appearances - his third-longest run without a goal in the competition (10 between September 2015-August 2016 and 12 between February-May 2018).

Players to watch:

Liverpool: Roberto Firmino

Firmino was only given a short run out against Everton as

Klopp

rotated his squad but still managed an assist during his 17 minutes on the pitch, selling Mason Holgate brilliantly to open up the pass to Georginio Wijnaldum.

The Brazil international has often been referred to as “the glue” which holds

Liverpool

’s attack together and is likely return to the starting XI on Saturday to pull the

Bournemouth

defense out of shape.

Only Sadio Mane (26) has completed more dribbles in the

Premier League

for

Liverpool

than Firmino (25) this season.

Bournemouth: Ryan Fraser

Harry Wilson has scored three of

Bournemouth

’s last four goals but is unable to face his parent club on Saturday, making Ryan Fraser’s role that much more important.

The Scotland international provided the second-highest number of assists (14) in the

Premier League

last season but has just three so far this term.

The

Cherries

are struggling desperately in the attacking third and the sooner Fraser can rediscover his touch the better for Eddie Howe.

No

Bournemouth

player has made more key passes in the

Premier League

than Fraser (19) this season.

Team News:

Bournemouth

Bournemouth

crashed to their fourth straight league defeat with a 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace in midweek where they played against ten men for 71 minutes.

Considering that they have now lost their last four league matches, boss Eddie Howe may well be tempted to change things around to face the league leaders.

Howe has often switched to three central defenders which he could employ here and add another player in the middle to bolster the midfield.

Predicted line-up (3-5-2):

Ramsdale; Francis, Mepham, Ake; Fraser, Lerma, Billing, L. Cook, Diego Rico; Solanke, C. Wilson

Unavailable: Brooks (Injured), Stanislas (Injured), Daniels (Injured), Surman (Injured), S. Cook (Injured), H. Wilson (Ineligible)

Doubtful: King (Injured), Kelly (Injured), Smith (Injured)

Liverpool

Liverpool

continued to pick up points by three as they comprehensively took apart Merseyside rivals Everton in midweek despite resting a number of key players.

Klopp

was afforded the luxury of leaving Henderson, Firmino, Salah, and Oxlade-Chamberlain on the bench yet they still won easily.

That quartet along with goalkeeper Alisson who is available after suspension are all expected to come back into the starting eleven here.

Predicted line-up (4-3-3):

Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wijnaldum, Henderson; Salah, Firmino, Mane

Unavailable: Clyne (Injured), Matip (Injured), Fabinho (Injured)