Today’s fixture feels like a signalman
An easy fixture for the champions on paper, having beaten Bournemouth home and away last season to an aggregate of 5-0, and that was arguably the Cherries’ best season in their history.
If he’d been asked to choose their opening game of the season, Slot probably couldn’t have picked a much better fixture at Anfield to get his war machine – with its £250m new parts – going.
The Reds have already got somewhat of a competitive feel back into their legs after they faced Crystal Palace at Wembley in Sunday’s Charity Shield match. They lost that game to Palace but they’ll be hoping to put any green shoots of doubt to bed on Friday.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth achieved a record Premier League points tally last season when they finished ninth under the superb Andoni Iraola, but their squad is now a shadow of what it was.
Their defence line in particular has been picked clean this window, with Dean Huijsen leaving for Real Madrid, Illia Zabarnyi moving to Paris Saint Germain and Milos Kerkez switching to the champions and likely to face his old side on Friday night.
Bournemouth have also agreed a £42m deal to sell Dango Outtara to Brentford, so he won’t be available to face the champions either.
In terms of incomings, they’ve signed Bafode Diakite from Lille for £30m, making him their second-most expensive signing, and Adrien Truffert has joined from Rennes. The goalkeeping department has seen a change from Kepa Arrizabalaga, on loan from Chelsea last season, to Djordje Petrovic, signed permanently from Chelsea this season.
They’ll be looking for more reinforcements in the window but picking up good form feels like it can only happen further into the season.
Team News
Ryan Gravenberch will be absent after being sent off on final day of last season. Conor Bradley is a doubt with a muscle issue but everyone else is fit. Joe Gomez returned to training this week, although he may not be at 100 per cent yet.
Premier League debuts are almost certain for Wirtz, Ekitike and Frimpong, while Kerkez should be making his debut for the Reds ahead of Andy Robertson.
Over at the opposing camp, Enes Unal and Justin Kluivert are unavailable through injury, while Lewis Cook is still serving a suspension carried over from last season.
Elsewhere, there should be debuts for Petrovic and Truffert, but it’s unclear if latest signing Diakite is ready to be thrown into the deep end just yet. With Bournemouth a little short in defence, he likely would be.
Predicted Line-Ups
Liverpool predicted lineup vs Bournemouth (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Frimpong, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitike
Bournemouth predicted lineup vs Liverpool (4-3-3): Petrovic; Smith, Diakite, Senesi, Truffert; Adams, Billing, Scott; Semenyo, Evanilson, Tavernier.
Kick-off Time
Friday, 15 August, 8 p.m. BST / 3 p.m. ET
Liverpool vs Bournemouth Prediction
Liverpool 2-0 Bournemouth
