Late goals from Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah saved all three points for Liverpool after previously surrendering a 2-0 lead in the Premier League season opener.
The Reds took the lead through competition-debutant Hugo Ekitike and doubled after a thoroughly composed Cody Gakpo finish.
But Bournemouth fought back. Antoine Semenyo’s brace looked to have been enough to give his side their second ever Anfield point, but late goals from Chiesa and Salah gave Liverpool the ideal start to their Premier League defence.
As it happened
As the first rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone rang around Anfield at a competitive match since the Summer passing of Diogo Jota, there was a feeling that this first test since becoming Premier League champions paled in comparison to something much bigger than football. This wasn’t about Liverpool, nor the Premier League, nor sporting merit: this was about Jota and his brother André Silva. It was about the honouring of their memories.
Alas, there was a football match to be played between a Liverpool side who were English champions but losers in the Community Shield, and a Bournemouth outfit whose previously stellar defence had been ripped apart and rebuilt in the transfer window.
The hosts attacked unsurprisingly quickly. New boy Ekitike took the first shot of this Premier League season in the third minute: a pot shot from distance comfortably claimed by Đorđe Petrović. Salah was also denied by the Serb between the sticks, while Virgil van Dijk would head over the bar, both within the opening five minutes.
For their part, Bournemouth should’ve scored a minute later, when Adrien Truffert’s deep cross was fired over the crossbar by Semenyo.
For the next half an hour, the game hit something of a goalmouth lull; Liverpool kept most of the ball but couldn’t turn possession to real chances.
On the 30-minute mark, the game saw a small delay as Semenyo alerted referee Anthony Taylor to a reported incident of racist abuse against him. After both managers were consulted, the game resumed shortly afterwards.
Not long after this, the action in front of goal resumed. Marcus Tavernier should really have scored in the 35th minute but instead scuffed an Adam Smith cutback into the arms of a grateful Alisson.
Two minutes later, Ekitike showed him how it’s done. Alexis Mac Allister played him through on goal before the ball bounced fortuitously off Marcos Senesi and back into the Frenchman’s path, at which point he had no problem slotting the ball into the bottom right corner. His celebration mirrored the game’s beginning: as he demonstrated the number 20 using the fingers of both hands, he showed this goal – his first in the Premier League – was dedicated to the man whose position Ekitike now occupies.
He wouldn’t be the last to make that tribute, either. Not five minutes, into the second half, Gakpo doubled the lead with his first goal of the new season. It was terrifically suave and composed, as he jinked the ball past Tavernier before passing the ball with nothing but precision into the bottom corner from just inside the area. Again, the celebration, identical to Ekitike, paid homage to his dearly missed former colleague.
As for the four debutants in red: Milos Kerkez, yellow card in tow, and Jeremie Frimpong were both withdrawn on the hour mark, while the closest Florian Wirtz came to a maiden Anfield goal was a shot dragged wide on minute 63. Ekitike? He acquitted himself quite nicely.
Nevertheless, Liverpool didn’t have things all their own way. Sixty-four minutes in, Bournemouth got one back through Semenyo after a glorious David Brooks cross set up a tap in for the Ghanaian forward.
They didn’t call it a day there, either. The Cherries kept plugging and unsettling Liverpool, with missed chances from David Brooks and Evanilson promptly resulting in the introductions of Wataro Endo and Joe Gomez for Liverpool.
But the defensive reinforcements – needed as their introductions evidently were – still couldn’t prevent an equaliser.
It came from a rapid break. Semenyo picked the ball up on the halfway line and never lost it, driving at a Liverpool backline lost in transition, before slaloming in and out to send Ibrahima Konaté and Van Dijk hither and dither. While the pair were working out which post code they were in, Semenyo took his opportunity to fire a low strike into the bottom corner, leaving a flatfooted Alisson with no chance.
Andoni Iraola’s side were level and they deserved it, no one more so than Semenyo.
But this is Liverpool. They always seem to find a way.
In the last three minutes of regulation time, they nicked all three points through the unlikeliest of goal-scorers.
Chiesa, having never previously scored a Premier League goal, popped up in the right place at the right time. Salah’s cross took one touch off Petrović, another off Ben Winterburn and one final one off Bafodé Diakité before dropping perfectly for the Italian to volley home. They’d saved the day right at the end, the hero their strength in depth.
In added time, Salah finally ensured he wasn’t left out of the act. He cut in onto his weaker right foot and slotted home the clincher: Liverpool were two up and had secured the win to start their new campaign.
They didn’t make it easy for themselves, but Arne Slot’s side did enough. They go atop of the Premier League after one game, and they’ll like to stay there for some time longer.
