Liverpool cruised to another three points with a comfortable 3-0 win over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.
Source: liverpoolfc.com
Goals from Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mohammed Salah saw of Eddie Howe’s men with ease.
The win moved Liverpool back to 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League and extended the winning run to 34 games.
The reds dominated the opening proceedings holding much of the ball and opened the scoring from a sublime pass from Jordan Henderson that put Oxlade-Chamberlain in prime position to finish.
Ten minutes later a beautiful interchange between Salah and man of the match Keita saw the Guinea international sneak in behind and finish calmly.
Keita returned the favour to Salah in the second half with a precise through-ball that sent the Egyptian king through for his 10th goal of the season.
Liverpool won Saturday’s showdown in the south of England at a mere canter and were even afforded the luxury of resting a number of key starters.
Sadio Mane and Trent Alexander-Arnold were left out from the start, although the former was required after just 35 minutes when Dejan Lovren limped off with an injury.
Klopp put to rest any nerves surrounding the injury saying it was nothing more than a bit of cramp.
He said: “It looks like a bit of cramp, he felt something and told us but it’s similar to what Gini and Lallana had.”
The rotation that Klopp implemented allowed an opportunity for others to impress and Keita was one of a few that took their chance.
Keita started the afternoon slowly and was robbed of the ball by Ryan Fraser on a few occasions that led to dangerous situations for Bournemouth.
However, after his goal in the 34th minute Keita gained a new lease of life and showed quality and confidence that we have only seen in glimpses since his arrival from RB Leipzig.
Keita was useful in possession with a 95% pass accuracy and was innovative with the ball, creating three chances for his teammates.
However, Keita also showed the defensive side of his game by making more tackles than anyone else and making a number of vital interceptions.
Liverpool fans know the quality that Keita possesses but his injury record and lack of consistency has hampered his time at Anfield so far.
The reds will hope that Keita can use this performance and this period of rotation to kick start his Liverpool career.
Another player that impressed after being rotated into the side was Joe Gomez.
The defender was brought in at right-back to give Alexander-Arnold a rest and Gomez was solid if not spectacular for 35 minutes.
However, after the injury to Lovren, Gomez slotted into his preferred centre-back role seamlessly and looked comfortable for the remainder of the match.
Gomez made more interceptions than anybody else and won 3/5 aerial duels.
Going forward Gomez also created two chances and held a solid 90% pass accuracy.
The England international’s form has been patchy at best in recent months and he has played a less significant role than would have been expected.
However, with both Lovren and Matip out of action Gomez will have an opportunity to cement his place at centre-back and rebuild his relationship with Van Dijk that was so strong at the start of last season.
Overall, today could not have gone better for Liverpool or for Jurgen Klopp.
The German got a chance to rotate his squad giving key players a rest and even those who did play a part were not overly exerted.
Furthermore, Salah got himself back amongst the goals and Naby Keita has a possibly landmark performance. If that wasn’t enough Curtis Jones came on for his debut and looked unbelievably calm and assured in midfield.
Nevertheless, the most important aspect of today’s match will, of course, be the the three points that moves Liverpool 11 points clear at the top of the league.
This will be just another game ticked off the busy December schedule and Klopp’s men will turn their attention to Tuesday night where they must secure Champions League qualification with a win against Red Bull Salzburg.
Max
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