Liverpool put in a battling performance to come away with a hugely important win against in-form Bournemouth on the south coast.
The Reds weren’t always at their best, but earned three big points thanks to a Mohamed Salah double. Here’s how we rated the players at the Vitality Stadium.
Defence
Alisson Becker: 8 – One enormous save one-on-one with Antoine Semenyo sent a reminder of how good he is in those situations. Prevented a tense finish by remarkably getting down to keep out what would have been a Ryan Gravenberch own goal.
Trent Alexander-Arnold: 3 – A true hall of shame performance from Trent Alexander-Arnold. Off it from the first seconds of the game when he was robbed in possession, Trent almost gifted Bournemouth a goal with a sloppy header into danger and was continuously beaten by Semenyo. Subbed off with what looks like an injury. Awful.
Ibrahima Konate: 6 – Konate did well at bailing Alexander-Arnold out a number of times but was guilty of some of his own sloppiness in possession as the game wore on. One vital block from Justin Kluivert was key, though.
Virgil van Dijk: 8 – With the rest of his defence all at sea, Liverpool’s captain stood strong at the Vitality Stadium. Easily the Reds best player not named Mohamed Salah on the day as he repelled whatever Bournemouth threw at him. Even chucked a no-look pass in for good measure.
Andy Robertson: 6 – Another slightly off-colour performance from Robertson who never looked sure against the speedy Dango Ouattarra. Coped better in the second-half and made one vital interception as the last man back.
Midfield
Ryan Gravenberch: 6 – Gravenberch hasn’t been quite as good of late, but he showed some of his silky best at Bournemouth. One 360-turn when surrounding by red and black shirts was a highlight.
Alexis Mac Allister: 5 – Sluggish in possession and the same off the ball, Mac Allister wasn’t at his best on Saturday. Taken off on a booking after flirting with picking up a second.
Dominik Szoboszlai: 4 – A really disappointing display from Szoboszlai who couldn’t get the ball under control during the first-half. Went to ground too easily to set up a Bournemouth counter-attack early on and fell over his feet in the build-up to David Brooks’ disallowed goal. Not all bad, but enough that it could have been costly.
Attack
Mohamed Salah: 8 – Salah got the all important goals against Bournemouth with the second a moment of real magic. Generally battled well against reported Liverpool target Milos Kerkez and took his penalty well, but the second goal to kill the Cherries off was moment of individual brilliance from the £34m man which could have huge ramifications.
Luis Diaz: 4 – Another anonymous performance through the middle from Diaz who didn’t do enough to impact the game.
Cody Gakpo: 6 – Won Liverpool a fortuitous penalty in the first-half and drew a good save from Kepa with a trademark cut inside and shot from distance. Otherwise a little quiet.
Substitutes
Curtis Jones: 6 – Almost robbed in possession when dallying too long straight after coming on and was lucky to see a free-kick given. Improved and set up Salah’s second with a nicely weighted pass.
Conor Bradley: 6 – Offered more thrust in his short time on the pitch than Alexander-Arnold managed all game.
Darwin Nunez: 7 – Gave Liverpool a real focal point which improved the set up of the team. Worked hard out of possessions as well.
Wataru Endo: N/A – On at the end to firm things up.
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