Full Time
Liverpool won 1-0 at Bournemouth, Alexander Isak converting Cody Gakpo's low cross just after the hour mark to settle a game Liverpool spent much of the first half sleepwalking through. Alisson had to be sharp earlier on, palming away Evanilson's flicked effort at the near post, but Bournemouth's cutting edge deserted them and Isak's finish was the only real quality on the day. Gakpo was the pick of the visitors, setting up the winner and winning more duels than anyone else on the pitch. Matchweek 5 sends Liverpool up to 4th, while Bournemouth stay winless and drop to 17th under Marco Rose.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Liverpool arrive at the Vitality Stadium sitting a middling 8th after four games, with just one win from four and questions building about their form under Arne Slot. Bournemouth are two places further back in 15th and still hunting a first league win of the season – three draws and a loss – but they turn up full of confidence after edging Real Sociedad 2-1 in the Europa League in midweek. For the Cherries, this is a genuine chance to show four winless league games was a blip, not a pattern; for Liverpool, it's a chance to stop treading water before the fixtures get harder.
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2This fixture has not always been kind to Bournemouth. Liverpool once put nine past them without reply at Anfield back in 2022 – still the joint-heaviest defeat in Premier League history – and it's the kind of scoreline Cherries fans bring up unprompted, usually to get it out of the way before anyone else does. Recent meetings have been tighter affairs though, so there's no reason to expect a repeat, more a reminder of how lopsided this fixture can get when Liverpool click.
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3Keep an eye on Marcus Tavernier. He's not a household name outside the south coast, but he's been Bournemouth's most reliable creative outlet this season, popping up in pockets of space and putting teammates through rather than hogging the spotlight himself. If Bournemouth are going to trouble a patched-together Liverpool defence, it's likely to start with something Tavernier does in the final third.
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4Liverpool go into this one seriously short at the back. Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong and Joe Gomez are all out injured, which leaves Arne Slot scrambling for a natural right-back, and Dominik Szoboszlai is suspended on top of that. It's the kind of situation that turns a routine away day into a genuine test of squad depth, and Bournemouth – full-strength and full of running under Marco Rose – will fancy exploiting whatever makeshift back line shows up.
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5Here's your pub-quiz line for the day: Bournemouth's minority owner is Michael B. Jordan, and he's officially the first Premier League club owner to win an Oscar, taking Best Actor home for Sinners. So even if the football doesn't grab you, you can at least tell people you support the only club in the league co-owned by an Academy Award winner.
Team Talking Points
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1Bournemouth are the form team nobody's talking about: last weekend's 2-1 win at Ipswich made it eight wins in a row in all competitions. Even better, it's four straight league wins – something they hadn't managed in a single season since December 2023.
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2It's a proper turnaround story. Marco Rose's side didn't win any of their first six Premier League games (three draws, three defeats), and now they're up to seventh on 15 points, just three behind the top four. Drop 'they were winless after six games, you know' and watch people do the maths.
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3Striker Evanilson is red hot. He scored inside five minutes at Ipswich after nicking the ball off the goalkeeper and rolling it into an empty net, and that's now five Premier League games in a row with a goal – the first Bournemouth player ever to do that.
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4The bigger clubs are circling. Arsenal are reportedly keen on young forward Eli Junior Kroupi, although the word is Bournemouth have no intention of letting him go before the summer. It's the price of being good at spotting talent – everyone else eventually notices.
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5There's an England angle too: defender James Hill was called up to the senior squad this week as cover after Ezri Konsa dropped out of training. Not bad for a club whose matchday squad still costs a fraction of the Premier League's big spenders.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Eight wins on the bounce and Evanilson can't stop scoring – Bournemouth have gone from 'winless after six' to sniffing round the top four in about six weeks.
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Avoid saying
"Bournemouth are just a nice little seaside club" – they've won eight straight and are three points off the Champions League places. Patronise them now and you'll look daft by Christmas.
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1Liverpool won 3-1 at bottom side Crystal Palace on Sunday and climbed back into the top four. Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak scored. Coming after a sticky run, it was the result Andoni Iraola needed going into the break.
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2Wirtz's goal was his first in the league this season. For a player who cost a small fortune, that's been a running joke among rival fans. Liverpool supporters will insist his all-round play was always more important than goals, and they're partly right.
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3The international break hasn't been kind. Virgil van Dijk played the full 90 at Selhurst Park, then pulled out of the Netherlands squad, reportedly after playing through a minor problem for weeks. Dominik Szoboszlai picked up a knee sprain in the same game and is a doubt for Hungary. Neither is a disaster yet, but both are worth watching.
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4Alisson was named man of the match at Palace with several big saves, and he was unlucky to concede a stoppage-time penalty. That's a reminder that Liverpool's win was less comfortable than the scoreline suggests.
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5The fixtures coming up are huge. Manchester United visit Anfield on 22 November, and over the next few weeks a Merseyside derby against a high-flying Everton and a game against Chelsea follow. A month from now we'll know whether Iraola's Liverpool are genuine contenders or just good at beating teams at the bottom.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Wirtz finally scored in the league, so now everyone can stop asking. The real test is United, the derby and Chelsea in the next few weeks.
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Avoid saying
"Liverpool are nothing without Klopp" — he's been gone since 2024, they've won the league since, and it suggests your football knowledge stopped updating several seasons ago.