Liverpool got their season off and running in devastating fashion, equalling the Premier League’s biggest victory with a 9-0 demolition of Bournemouth at Anfield.
Monday’s defeat at Manchester United confirmed Liverpool’s worst start to a Premier League season in a decade but the rampant Reds swiftly put the record straight, matching United’s 9-0 victory over Ipswich in 1995 to kick-start their campaign.
Roberto Firmino set up Luis Diaz’s opener (3rd), Harvey Elliott’s drive (6th) and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s thunderous effort (28th) before getting on the scoresheet with Liverpool’s fourth (31st).
Virgil van Dijk’s towering header (45) ensured there was no respite for the Cherries, who handed Liverpool their fifth when Chris Mepham put through his own net (46th). Firmino got his second goal in the 62nd minute for Liverpool’s seventh of the afternoon.
Fabio Carvalho came off the bench to score his first Liverpool goal (80th), before Diaz rounded off the historic victory with his second and the hosts’ ninth (85th) as Jurgen Klopp’s side claimed their first win of the campaign to climb to eighth in the table.
Scott Parker, while in charge of Fulham, was the last visiting manager to win at Anfield in the Premier League, but there was to be no repeat as Liverpool raced out of the traps to banish their Old Trafford nightmare.
Diaz’s brilliant header back across goal opened the floodgates and was quickly followed by Elliott’s venomous first Premier League goal on six minutes, before Liverpool underscored their dominance on 28 minutes when Alexander-Arnold rifled home from 25 yards.
Having set up Liverpool’s first three goals, Firmino ghosted into the Bournemouth area to extend the lead to four – his first league goal at Anfield since December 2020 – before Van Dijk headed home as the Reds scored five times in the first half of a Premier League game for the first time. – Sky Sports
EPL results at a glance
Southampton 0-1 Man United
Chelsea 2-1 Leicester
Arsenal 2-1 Fulham
Liverpool 9-0 Bournemouth
Man City 4-2 Crystal Palace
Brentford 1-1 Everton
Brighton 1-0 Leeds United
