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Writer's pictureBobby Vincent

Liverpool 3-0 Bournemouth

Liverpool have returned to the top of the Premier League (at least temporarily) after a comfortable victory over Bournemouth at Anfield.

Goals from Sadio Mane, Georginio Wijnaldum and Mohamed Salah were enough for the Reds to return to winning ways.

After two successive draws, the win over the Cherries ensures Jurgen Klopp's men have piled the pressure on Manchester City as they take on Chelsea on Sunday.

Image via @PremierLeague

 

The pressure was on Liverpool at Anfield after the recent results against West Ham United and Leicester City.

But you couldn't tell the pressure was there. James Milner's cross was headed in by Mane in the first-half. There was a hint of offside but Nathan Ake's foot appeared to be playing the forward onside.

Four goals in four successive games for Mane - the first time the Senegal international has produced that in the Premier League.

Naby Keita was starting for Liverpool alongside Fabinho and Wijnaldum in midfield and perhaps had his best game in a red shirt.

The midfielder's interception allowed Andy Robertson to play a long and searching pass to Wijnaldum, who delicately lobbed Artur Boruc. Great goal.

Image via @PremierLeague

The free-flowing Liverpool attacking was something we hadn't seen since before the Man City loss at the end of 2018.

Bournemouth created very little and barely tested Alisson in the Liverpool goal.

But Eddie Howe's half-time game-plan was messed up almost immediately after the restart.

Mane collected the ball from a throw-in, passed it to Keita who picked out a wonderful ball for Roberto Firmino. The Brazil striker found Salah with a great backheel flick, and the Egyptian curled it into the bottom left corner.

Liverpool were looking at their best - and not long after, they nearly had their fourth.

Again, Firmino picked out Salah with an excellent through-ball, but this time the striker could only smash the crossbar, despite wrong-footing Boruc.

That's the way the game finished. The Liverpool midfield trio of Fabinho, Keita and Wijnaldum were absolutely tremendous, and for how good the front three of Mane, Salah and Firmino were, it looked as if the midfielders won the Reds the three points on Merseyside.

 

The Managers

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp: "We were not happy with the performances from the previous two games and struggled a bit with set-pieces. There were a lot of things we had to improve.

"We have high expectations and today we won in an impressive manner - we had some outstanding performances on the pitch. Goal number three was world-class.

"We wanted to show a reaction. It's our job not only to come through but to really perform and convince."

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe: "I thought Liverpool were very good but we didn't really deal with their main threats.

"The first goal was offside but we never really recovered. We pride ourselves in never quitting. We lived on the edge a little bit but looked more of a threat in the second-half.

"We had some moments early in the match. We looked fine until that first goal went in."

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