Liverpool beat Manchester United 7-0, but surprisingly not the biggest win of the season in the Premier League. On Saturday, they will take on Bournemouth – a team that traveled from Anfield 9-0 complete in their baggage in August.
At the time, there may have been many who thought it was already over and done with the team that moved out of the championship last year. Scott Parker was sacked after the humiliation he suffered at Anfield, and former Liverpool employee Gary O’Neill was given the responsibility of leading the team.
Throughout the fall it looked promising at times, and the South Coast team managed to pick up a few points. At one point they were 14th in the table, but in the relegation bog that was it, and poor results after the World Cup meant things were starting to look a little dangerous for O’Neill’s crew.
down the table
Thanks to Southampton’s victory over Leicester in the previous round of the league, Bournemouth are not only bottom of the level table, they are now bottom of the Premier League. They have 21 points from 25 games, but only five of those points have come in the last ten games.
On Vitality Stadium, they were weak, earning 13 points in 12 games. It is the third worst in the Premier League. At the same time, it is one point more than what Liverpool have scored in the most away games this season
Bournemouth had not won a home match since before the World Cup, when they beat Everton twice in a week – first in the League, then in the Premier League.
Parts of January and February could see little improvement in the offing – a draw with Newcastle, an away win at Wolves and a narrow loss to Brighton gave hope, but then Manchester City came to visit and won 4-1.
Last weekend, O’Neill’s side came close to knocking their heads off league leaders Arsenal. They led 2-0, but gave it up in the second half. Just when it looked like they were going to get a respectable point, the decisive goal came 3-2 to Arsenal seven minutes into extra time.
Struggle against the top teams
None of Bournemouth’s six victories this season have come against teams currently in the top half of the Premier League, and not a single point has come against the traditional top six so far. They seem to have found that the points will come against their bottom half rivals.
There were also some bumps in the road. 8-1 combined in two matches against Manchester City, and the loss was 3-0 against Manchester United and Arsenal. But of course nothing is worse than losing 9-0 to Liverpool:
Liverpool have won their last three matches at the Vitality Stadium by 11-0 goals. The previous defeat came in 2016, when Bournemouth turned 1-3 to 4-3 and inflicted a stinging defeat on Jurgen Klopp’s side.
In any case, the Reds have the stats on their side as they chase their fourth away league win of the season on Saturday. The match kicks off at 1:30 p.m.
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