Bournemouth welcome Liverpool to Vitality Stadium in a huge clash at opposite ends of the Premier League table.
Victory would see Bournemouth climb out of the relegation zone, whilst Liverpool will stay fifth with a win.
Team News
Jefferson Lerma is a doubt for Bournemouth after he missed their dramatic defeat at Arsenal with a muscle injury.
Hamed Traore (muscle), Lloyd Kelly (calf), Illia Zabarnyi (ankle) and Marcus Tavernier (hamstring) are doubts but Matia Vina (knee), Junior Stanislas (unspecified) and David Brooks (fitness) remain absent.
Liverpool could be without Naby Keita again after he missed their 7-0 win against Manchester United with a muscle injury.
Arthur Melo (fitness) is a doubt but Calvin Ramsay (knee), Joe Gomez (muscle), Thiago Alcantara (hip) and Luis Diaz (knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Bournemouth host Liverpool at 12:30pm GMT on Saturday 11 March at Vitality Stadium, live on BT Sport in UK.
Stat Attack
- Bournemouth have claimed just four points from 11 previous Premier League meetings against Liverpool (W1, D1, L9).
- Liverpool have lost just one of their five previous Premier League visits to Bournemouth (W4, L1).
- Bournemouth have conceded 11 goals in their last three home matches against Liverpool without scoring in reply (L3).
- Gary O’Neil’s Cherries have scored in each of their three league matches at home in 2023 (D2, L1).
- Jurgen Klopp’s Reds kept five consecutive clean sheets in their last five league games for the first time since February-April 2022.
Prediction
Although Bournemouth are currently in a run of difficult fixtures, they should be disappointed to not have snatched a draw at Arsenal last weekend after blowing a 2-0 lead through poor marking and a mental switch-off of their defensive ability.
There is however a huge positive in how they came out and attacked the game with some excellent end product, which crucially was blocked by Aaron Ramsdale otherwise they would of won the game by the time Arsenal began to fight back.
Liverpool though won’t be the defensive pushovers that they’ve been in recent months – with Virgil van Dijk now back in defence, whilst their attack finally looks to have found a fresh spark which certainly showed in theirr ruthless mauling of Man Utd last weekend.
A strong start is therefore imperative for Bournemouth because if they fail to get in front, I do feel that this will be another home thrashing akin to Manchester City two weeks ago – although their overall performances are decent if let down by their poor defending and Liverpool are goal hungry now.
Prediction: Bournemouth 1-3 Liverpool
Result: Burnemouth 1-0 Liverpool