Liverpool equal record in Premier League demolition
Liverpool equalled an all-time Premier League record in their incredible 9-0 win against Bournemouth in a stunning performance at Anfield in the late August sunshine - and it could have been even more had Mo Salah not missed an open goal.
Jurgen Klopp's side had been the subject of criticism this week after a poor start left them with just two points from their opening three Premier League games, but they more than made up for that with a storming performance against an under-par Bournemouth team in a match which came days after an abject defeat against Manchester United.
Liverpool raced out of the blocks early with goals from Luis Diaz and Harvey Elliott; strikes which immediately eased concerns among the Anfield faithful, and left Liverpool with the foundation to press forward.
Press forward they did. Trent Alexander-Arnold added to the tally with a sensational long range strike just before the half-hour mark. Roberto Firmino added a fourth soon after before Virgil van Dijk got in on the action to make it 5-0 at half-time.
And if Bournemouth thought that Liverpool might ease up in the second frame, they were sorely mistaken when their defender Chris Mepham put the ball into his own goal just after the restart.
From there, the torrent continued. Firmino bagged another, while summer signing Fabio Carvalho scored his first goal in Liverpool colors and with five minutes remaining Luis Diaz rose above the Bournemouth defence to score a sensational ninth in front of a delirious Anfield crowd.
It was the fourth time in the 30-year history of the Premier League that a team has won by a 9-0 scoreline.
Manchester United have done it twice, first against Ipswich in 1995 and again against Southampton last year. Leicester City also beat Southampton with a 9-0 scoreline in 2019.
Remarkably, the result could have been worse for Bournemouth had Mo Salah not poked wide from a yard out with the goal at his mercy after 15 minutes when the score was still 2-0.
Afterwards, though, Klopp couldn't hide his satisfaction from the media.
“Very good,” he said. “We wanted to show a reaction. Be ourselves. Getting to be the best version of ourselves. We play a specific way.
“We scored wonderful goals. The game settled and we kept scoring. It was about keep going. Not to humiliate Bournemouth, we couldn’t respect them more. It’s about putting the opponent under pressure. I could bring on the kids, they deserve it so much. Harvey [Elliott] is a special player, wonderful goal. Everything was perfect pretty much.
“If we want to be successful in this league we have to show consistency. That’s what we have to do now. That used to be our strength. We’ll watch Newcastle tomorrow and see what we can do against them.”
