MATCH PREVIEW: Liverpool V Bournemouth

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Image via: liverpoolfc.com
Liverpool face Bournemouth on Monday evening for their first fixture at Anfield in the new 2015/2016 season. After picking up a late win at the Britannia thanks to a glorious Coutinho strike, the Reds will be buoyant going in to this game, hoping to collect all three points and put a dent in any gaps created by teams over the weekend.

Injuries for Liverpool mean they are still without Flanagan and Sturridge who are working back to fitness after longstanding injuries. Also unavailable for manager Brendan Rodgers is Joe Allen who picked up what looked like a knock against Swindon but has since turned into a more serious issue.

For Bournemouth they are without Arter who has a hip injury, doubts are also hanging over Atsu and MacDonald leaving Howe with some possible changes to make.

The last time the two sides met was in December 2014 when the Reds faced Bournemouth in a League Cup tie. The game ended in a 3-1 victory for Liverpool with Raheem Sterling and Lazar Markovic on the score sheet.

Prior to this fixture Liverpool have faced Bournemouth on five occasions. The Cherries have picked up two draws over that time period with Liverpool having won the remaining three games.

In their final seven fixtures in the Championship before being promoted to the Premier League Bournemouth picked up five wins and scored a total of 16 goals in the process. Callum Wilson was top goalscorer for Bournemouth last season and has remained at the club featuring in their first fixture against Aston Villa.

Stat Sandwich

  • This will be the first time Liverpool have met Bournemouth in the league
  • Bournemouth's two previous visits to Anfield have resulted in two 4-1 losses
  • Christian Benteke has scored 11 goals in his last 12 Premier League appearances

Realistically this should be a win for Liverpool but things are never that simple and Bournemouth even during our last meeting in the League Cup posed a decent threat. Since being promoted to the Premier League they have also gained some quality and were unlucky really to miss out on a draw against Aston Villa who scored in the 72nd minute.

Assuming Brendan Rodgers goes with a similar set up that was selected at Stoke I would like to see some more supply for Christian Benteke, who may get a better 90 minutes playing in front of the Anfield crowd for the first time.

It's still too early for me to voice a solid opinion on some of our new boys and so I will be paying close attention on Monday evening as they try to settle into the side. It would be good to see Firmino given some more game time on this occasion too.

I asked you for your score predictions and here are a few of the tweets I received, if I manage to pop a bet on I'll probably be going for 2-1.
Enjoy the match folks, wherever you are watching!