Wednesday 20 December 2017

Liverpool Boss It 0-4 At Bournemouth

Sports - Football - Premier League - AFCB 0:4 Liverpool

Liverpool bossed the show and cruised to a 0-4 win at Bournemouth to move up to fourth in the Premier League table on Super Sunday.



Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring in the 20th minute with a bit of magic after hitting the post with a free-kick earlier on.

The Brazilian made it five goals in five games after a fine run, moving too quick for the Bournemouth defenders, before slotting the ball past Asmir Begović.

Dejan Lovren doubled the score for the visitors at the Vitality Stadium soon after with a fine header.

Star man Mohamed Salah made it 0-3 before half-time after Jermain Defoe had hit the post for the home side.

The great Egyptian produced one of his excellent quick runs before netting his 11th goal in 11 games, and his 20th of the season.

The man of the match became the first Liverpool player to score at least 20 league and cup goals in a single season since Luis Suárez and Daniel Sturridge in 2013-14, and the first to score 20 goals before Christmas since the great legend Ian Rush in 1986-7.

Roberto Firmino got the deserved fourth with a diving header to seal the win 0-4 and extend the Reds' unbeaten run to 12 matches in all competitions.

The convincing victory was much needed after disappointing draws at home against Everton and West Brom and took Jürgen Klopp's men up to fourth, above Arsenal and Burnley, but still 18 points behind league leaders Manchester City.

Eddie Howe's side meanwhile, stay 16th in the table, only one point above the relegation zone, after their sixth game without a win (3D, 3L).

Liverpool are unbeaten in their last nine league games (6W, 3D), their best run since an 11-match run ended in November 2016.

They are the first team in top-flight history to win four consecutive away games by a margin of at least three goals.

Next for the Reds is a trip to London on Friday night, where they will face Arsenal at the Emirates.

One can only hope they keep the confidence from this win and if they play against the Gunners as they did in the reverse fixture or last season's stunning opener, they should be fine and able to extend that thrashing away record.

Liverpool Goals: Coutinho 20', Lovren 26', Salah 44', Firmino 66'.

Bournemouth Team: 27 Begovic; 15 Smith, 2 Francis (c), 5 Aké (booked 10'), 11 Daniels (3 S Cook 56'); 33 Ibe, 16 L Cook, 6 Surman, 7 Pugh (24 Fraser 45'); 17 King (19 Stanislas 31'); 18 Defoe. 4-4-1-1
Subs not used: 1 Boruc, 4 Gosling, 8 Arter, 9 Afobe.

Liverpool Team: 22 Mignolet; 12 Gomez, 6 Lovren, 17 Klavan, 26 Robertson; 21 Oxlade-Chamberlain, 14 Henderson (c), 5 Wijnaldum; 11 Salah (20 Lallana 71' (booked 73')), 9 Firmino (29 Solanke 76'), 10 Coutinho (28 Ings 87'). 4-3-3
Subs not used: 1 Karius, 7 Milner, 10 Mané, 66 Alexander-Arnold.

HT Match Stats: AFCB 0-3 LFC
Possession: 45%-55%
Shots: 3-11
On target: 1-5
Corners: 1-2
Fouls: 4-3
Yellow cards: 1-0

FT Match Stats: AFCB 0-4 LFC
Possession: 44%-56%
Shots: 6-21
On target: 2-7
Corners: 2-3
Fouls: 5-10
Yellow cards: 1-1

Referee: Andre Marriner
Man of the match: Mohamed Salah
Ground: Vitality Stadium
Attendance: 10,780

Click here for my previous LFC match report.

All pictures, facts and stats were taken from the BBC match report and Twitter.

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