When Liverpool were here at the beginning of November, Storm Kieran raged and they won to advance in the Carabao Cup. There was another weather warning here, with Storm Isha incoming and another powerful message. Liverpool are back from their winter break and they have their eyes on the Premier League title.
Once again, Storm Darwin also blew. In the cup tie, it was Darwin Núñez who scored the winner and it was his goal at the end of the slickest of team moves early in the second half that tilted this game in his team’s favour.
Núñez was very good after the break, all power and threat, that untamed feel of his to the fore, and he was involved in the second goal that made the points safe, Liverpool extending their lead at the top of the table to five points over Manchester City, albeit having played an extra game.
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Diogo Jota applied the finish after Núñez had challenged with Illia Zabarnyi and the substitute Cody Gakpo played the killer pass. After Jota scored again for 3-0, lashing home after an initial miskick, it was Núñez who had the last word. Joe Gomez’s cross was a beauty and what about the finish, Núñez steering in to the far corner on the volley with the outside of his right boot.
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Liverpool are fighting hard on four fronts; they have the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at Fulham on Wednesday night, 2-1 up from the first. It is the league that they want most of all.
It was a slow burner, the first shot not coming until the 19th minute and Alexis Mac Allister’s effort from distance did not remotely trouble Neto. Bournemouth are a different proposition now compared to early November having made the needed adjustments under Andoni Iraola. There was one pre-match statistic that had them as the form team in the division over the past eight matches.
They kept Liverpool at arm’s length in the first period, putting bodies on the line when required, Neto not stretched. When Harvey Elliott slipped a ball up the inside right for Luis Díaz, his cross was blocked before coming off him and going out. It summed up the first half for Jürgen Klopp’s team. Núñez got an attempted volley all wrong at the far post. “You’re just a shit Andy Carroll,” chanted the home crowd. The Liverpool support would enjoy singing that back at the end.
A major talking point came on 36 minutes when Justin Kluivert stretched into a tackle on Díaz, eyes on the ball, but he got nothing of it and crashed into his opponent’s lower leg. It looked bad on the replays and it seemed as though the video assistant referee could intervene. He did not, with Kluivert escaping without yellow or red. Liverpool had played on for a while as Díaz writhed in agony so perhaps they did not think it was so bad in the moment. Players have been dismissed this season for similar challenges.
Liverpool looked to turn the screw. Jota felt a touch from Zabarnyi on the very edge of the area and went down, wanting a penalty
Bournemouth stirred as an attacking proposition just before the break, seeing a couple of shots blocked and creating a moment of genuine excitement when Luis Sinisterra fed Kluivert and he crossed low for the run of Ryan Christie. Frustratingly for Bournemouth, Christie could not get a touch at point-blank range.
Klopp knew that his team had to thrive without two of their leaders – the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah, who is on Africa Cup of Nations duty and with an injury question mark over him, as well. The Liverpool manager, who was missing others and lost Curtis Jones towards the end, had started with Núñez on the left and Jota through the middle – the setup that had inspired the FA Cup win at Arsenal.
Klopp had them the other way around at the start of the second half and it was a decision that paid off immediately. The move for the breakthrough was underscored by precision and technique, Jones firing it with a touch on his chest to control an Ibrahima Konaté crossfield ball and a smooth release to Jota on the bounce. Jota knew where Núñez was and found him the first time. Núñez knew where the bottom corner was and found it first-time.
Liverpool looked to turn the screw. Jota felt a touch from Zabarnyi on the very edge of the area and went down, wanting a penalty, which did not come – it might have done – while Conor Bradley, who emerged with honours at right-back, fluffed a far post header.
The needle endured. Lewis Cook was booked for a hack at Bradley and a bit of afters during the untangling operation, which had Klopp exchanging angry words with the Bournemouth bench. The Liverpool manager could be happier with his team’s second-half performance as they pulled clear. It bristled with control and authority, with Bournemouth’s woes complete when the substitutes David Brooks and Kieffer Moore wasted glorious chances in the closing stages. – Guardian
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