Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez both struck twice as Liverpool cruised to a 4-0 win at AFC Bournemouth to go five points clear at the top, the largest lead a team have had at the end of a Matchweek this season.
The Reds did not miss absent duo Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold as they scored four second-half goals to extend their unbeaten run to eight Premier League matches.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Man City
MCI
|
38 | +62 | 91 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
38 | +62 | 89 |
| 3 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
38 | +45 | 82 |
| 4 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
38 | +15 | 68 |
How the match unfolded
Jurgen Klopp made two changes from the side that beat Fulham 2-1 in the EFL Cup semi-final first leg, with Alisson and Nunez returning, while Conor Bradley retained his spot to make his Premier League debut.
As for Bournemouth, Andoni Iraola handed a first Premier League start to defender James Hill, while Chris Mepham returned to the starting XI for the first time since October.
In a keenly-fought first half of few clear-cut chances, Luis Diaz and Nunez had long-range efforts comfortably saved by Neto, while at the other end, Dominic Solanke was unable to get a touch to Justin Kluivert’s ball across goal just before half-time.
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Liverpool started the second half brightly, and opened the scoring in the 49th minute through Nunez.
A crossfield pass by Ibrahima Konate was brought down by Curtis Jones, who fizzed the ball forward to Jota.
The Portuguese played a perfectly-weighted pass to Nunez, who swept first-time into the bottom-right corner to round off a superb move and score the 100th goal of his senior career for club and country.
Bradley twice came close to scoring a debut goal as Liverpool grew in confidence, flashing a header wide before his powerful long-range strike was saved by Neto.
The Reds claimed a deserved second goal in the 70th minute following a counter-attack, with substitute Cody Gakpo playing in Jota, who drilled a near-post shot past Neto.
Jota grabbed his second goal with nine minutes remaining, firing in at the second attempt after mishitting his first shot.
Bournemouth substitute David Brooks was unable to pull a goal back as he failed to make the most of a 1v1 before Liverpool added a fourth goal in the third minute of second-half stoppage time.
Joe Gomez’s cross to the back post was superbly finished by Nunez for his seventh Premier League goal of the season.
Nunez becomes the first Premier League player to register at least 10 goals and 10 assists in all competitions this season.
Back-to-back defeats leave Bournemouth in 12th on 25 points.
Next five Premier League fixtures
Key facts
Only against Manchester City have Bournemouth lost more games (13) and conceded more goals (44) in the Premier League than against Liverpool (11 defeats, 43 goals conceded). The Cherries have conceded 3+ goals in eight of their last 10 league games against the Reds.
Liverpool have lost none of their 11 Premier League games without Mohamed Salah (W8 D3), winning each of the last five in a row
Bournemouth failed to score for the first time in their last 12 Premier League matches, while this was their heaviest home defeat in the competition since September against Arsenal (0-4).
Jota, who scored his 10th and 11th goals of the season for Liverpool in all competitions, both scored and assisted in the same Premier League game for a sixth time – the last five occasions of which have been away from home.
Aged 20 years and 196 days, Bradley was the third-youngest player to assist a goal on his Premier League debut for Liverpool, after Jordon Ibe in May 2013 (17y 162d) and Gomez in August 2015 (18y 78d).