Liverpool will be returning to PL action against Bournemouth after winter break with the agenda of extending their lead at the top of the league table.
After enjoying a one and a half week winter break, the Merseysiders are bound to get back in action. Currently the club is leading the PL points table after 20th gameweek with 45 points.
Manhester City are at the 2nd place with 43 points after equal number of games played. The clash against Bournemouth on Sunday will be a golden opportunity for the Reds to extend their 2 points lead even further.
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The Anfield side will be starting this match, afresh from the 2-1 Carabao Cup victory against Fulham. The Cherries will also buzzing with the success of their latest 3-2 FA Cup win against QPR.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference on Friday, LFC boss Jurgen Klopp shared about the benefits of the winter break.
“Yeah, top, it was top. Today is the third session already since we are back, you could see it was really important to everybody, for everybody. From my personal point of view, I had four days. Perfect, absolutely.
Nobody wanted to have three or four weeks, we are in the middle of a season [and] we love what happened so far, we are looking forward to what’s coming up, but these four days were just top-class.”
Klopp said.
Liverpool Team News vs Bournemouth: PL
Liverpool are expected to miss a lot of key players due to injuries and unavailability of players for international duty. Mohamed Salah and Wataru Endo are unavailable representing Egypt and Japan in AFCON and Asian Cup respectively.
The usual suspects Joel Matip, Kostas Tsimikas, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dominik Szoboszlai, Thiago Alcantara, Stefan Bajcetic and Ben Doak are missing due to injury.
But on a much positive note, Andy Robertson is expected to return in action as he was spotted at the recent team trainings after suffering from a broken shoulder back in October. He could possibly start in the match against Bournemouth.
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LFC will be starting in Jurgen Klopp’s trademark 4-3-3 formation. Alisson in goal, the defense will be Andy Robertson and Conor Bradley as fullbacks, and skipper Virgil van Dijk will be pairing with Ibrahima Konate at centre-back.
Alexis Mac Allister will be fulfilling the no. 6 role as Endo is not available. Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch could possibly play in the no. 8 positions ahead of the the Argentinian.
The front three would consist of Luis Diaz and Harvey Elliott operating as left-winger and right-winger respectively. And Cody Gakpo is expected to start as the striker.
Predicted Line Up
Projected Lineup (4-3-3): Alisson; Robertson, Van Dijk, Konate, Bradley; Jones, Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Diaz, Gakpo, Elliott.
Bournemourh vs Liverpool – Anfield Home Prediction
Here is what we predict for the match at the Vitaliy Stadium. But first here are some stats to support the claims:
- Bournemouth have lost 8 of their last 9 league games with Liverpool, with the only one loss being the 1-0 defeat last season.
- The Reds have already won at the Vitality Stadium this season, as they beat the Cherries 2-1 in the ETL Cup.
- Liverpool rank second in taking points in the last 8 PL games with 18 points (W5 D3), right after Bournemouth who have taken 19 points (W6 D1 L1).
The Anfield giants will face tough competition from Bournemouth. However, the table-toppers should emerge victorious.
Bournemouth 1-3 Liverpool.
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Where to watch?
The match will kick-off at 4:30 pm GMT and the live broadcast will be available at Sky Sports in the UK. In India, the match will start at 10:00 pm IST and can be watched live on Star Sports 3 and Star Sports Select 1.
An ardent football fan and a proud Red. I take immense pleasure in analyzing the intricacies of the game.
