Liverpool are just moments away from a must-win match at Anfield against Bournemouth. The Reds are still winless in the Premier League and sitting on a paltry 2 points. It is still early enough in the season to turn things around but, winning time has to start now.
It will be interesting to see how Liverpool respond after Jürgen Klopp's much-publicized closed-door meeting yesterday afternoon. Klopp reportedly got, “a lot of things off of his chest” which seems to suggest the team got a dressing down by the veteran manager.
Bournemouth come to Merseyside in lousy form. They've lost two in a row after besting Aston Villa on the opening day of the season. It's easy to say that Liverpool should handle Bournemouth today and take 3 points. However, Bournemouth fans will point out that they have more points than Liverpool and their last two matches were against Manchester City and Arsenal.
The only change in the lineup that Klopp has made from the side that lost Monday night in Manchester is swapping Fabinho for Milner. Much was made during the week of the possibility of both Fabinho and Caravalho possibly coming into the side. Seems as though Caravalho will have to wait to see if he's subbed on in the 2nd half.
Here are the lineups for Liverpool and Bournemouth:
Liverpool
Starters
Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Elliott, Salah, Firmino, Díaz
Substitutes
Adrian, Davies, Milner, Tsimikas, Carvalho, Clark, Bajcetic, Phillips, Van Den Berg
Bournemouth
Starters
Travers, Cook, Mepham, Lerma, Christie, Smith, Tavernier, Moore, Senesi, Anthony, Zemura
Substitutes
Neto, Solanke, Marcondes, Stacey, Pearson, Hill, Billing, Bevan, Saydee
LFC Globe Verdict
3 points. That's it. Liverpool need to win today. And I think they will. I think the team will respond to the boss's pep talk yesterday and put out a great effort at home today. I see the offense getting on track and putting up 3 goals today.
I'm going to go ahead and say that the Reds will beat the Cherries by the score of 3-0 today. Mohamed Salah is long overdue to score, so I think he'll get at least one goal. I believe Harvey Elliot could also reward Klopp's faith in him with a brace.
Today's lineup is an experienced one. That makes sense to me because Liverpool need to win and these veterans have won before. It might be called a conservative lineup by Jürgen Klopp but he knows what they need to win.