Antoine Semenyo may no longer be a Bournemouth player, but that doesn’t mean they won’t still pose a threat to Liverpool this weekend.
The Reds head to the south coast on Saturday evening, as they look to end a frustrating run of four Premier League draws in a row.
Bournemouth‘s season has lost momentum after an impressive start, with Andoni Iraola’s side 15th in the table, but they are a well-drilled team with quality aplenty.
Ahead of the match, we spoke to Cherries fan and podcaster Jon Spark (@jonsparkafcb) to preview a potentially tricky game for Liverpool.
How happy are you with Bournemouth’s season?
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, August 19, 2023: Bournemouth's manager Andoni Iraola during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and AFC Bournemouth at Anfield. Liverpool won 3-1. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
It’s been a frustrating past couple of months, but that makes it easy to forget how well we started.
At the end of October, we were second in the Premier League, but for a fair few of those games, we had an in-form Antoine Semenyo to thank as the results were slightly masking some concerns.
Since then, we went on a woeful run of games without a win.
We ended that particular run with a victory over Tottenham, but Monday’s 1-1 draw at Brighton was yet another match where we have not scored enough to prevent us from dropping points when we inevitably concede.
Talk us through the main positives and negatives to date?
Antoine Semenyo scored twice for Bournemouth
Well, we have a league-high number of points lost from winning positions this season, and while it’s entertaining for a neutral, it’s shredding the nerves of the fans.
It has not been helped by the number of injuries we’ve had of late, with no attacking depth.
One of the main positives of the season was Semenyo, but we obviously don’t have him to help now.
The summer business was not so great in hindsight, but there are some new players who are impressing, and it does seem like we are starting to get reinforcements through the door.
Alex Toth has been announced from Ferencvaros, and Rayan Vitor looks to be on his way from Vasco de Gama.
Which players have impressed most? Who has struggled?
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Friday, August 15, 2025: Bournemouth's Marcos Senesi during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and AFC Bournemouth at Anfield. Liverpool won 4-2. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Outside of Semenyo, one of the three best players this season has been the new right-back Alex Jimenez – a very good attacker who has the bite and aggression you love to see in a defender.
Marcos Senesi, who is out of contract this summer and all the biggest clubs in Europe will be fighting over, has also impressed.
Eli Kroupi, who is the highest-scoring teenager in the league and looks to be set for stardom in the next couple of years, is another.
Honourable mentions to Alex Scott, Tyler Adams and Veljko Milosavljevic, the last of whom is a young centre-back who has come in and been very impressive.
The strugglers have been the new signings like Amine Adli, Djordje Petrovic and Bafode Diakite.
Petrovic has started to pull out a few good saves recently and Adli has not been given much game time, but Diakite is our second-most expensive signing and has struggled to adapt, being benched for the last few games to take him out of the firing line.
I think there is a capable Premier League player there, but it will take him a bit more time to get to terms with the pace of the game.
Do you think Iraola will stay this summer?
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, September 21, 2024: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot (L) shakes hands with AFC Bournemouth's manager Andoni Iraola after the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and AFC Bournemouth at Anfield. Liverpool won 3-0. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
That is the big question.
Andoni Iraola has progressed so much with this team, and the fact that we have fallen backwards quite a lot this season may get him to re-evaluate and decide to seek a new challenge.
Having said that, there is still half a season to go, and if we were to get three or four wins in the next six matches, we would look comfortable in mid-table and maybe looking up at a Europa Conference League spot again.
If we can make a success of this league campaign, then you never know, but personally, I think this is his last season with us.
How do you rate Liverpool’s season? Would you keep Arne Slot?
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, January 17, 2026: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot before the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Burnley FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
It has been quite up and down, hasn’t it?
I haven’t kept up with the league quite as much as usual, but it does feel like last year Arne Slot rode on the coattails of Jurgen Klopp.
Now he is struggling to work with a new squad that was perhaps turned over in too large a quantity.
If you qualify for the Champions League, I don’t see why you would get rid of him now, but looking at some of the recent results, it’s not great reading for when you put it in the context of being the holders and the money spent.
If you could only have one Liverpool player at Bournemouth, who would it be?
LONDON, ENGLAND - Sunday, August 10, 2025: Liverpool’s goalkeeper Alisson Becker, captain Virgil van Dijk and head coach Arne Slot line-up before the FA Community Shield match between Crystal Palace FC and Liverpool FC at Wembley Stadium. Palace won 3-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw. (Photo by Harry Murphy/Propaganda)
Assuming all our players are fit, it would either be Virgil van Dijk or Alisson.
Our defence is still on the younger side and I feel it’s lacking a powerful leading voice.
We don’t generally struggle to score too much, but we have massively struggled with defending this season, so a leader at the back would be ideal.
Where will the key battles take place on Saturday?
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Friday, August 15, 2025: Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike celebrates after Cody Gakpo (#18) scored their side's second goal during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and AFC Bournemouth at Anfield. Liverpool won 4-2. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Rather than a man-on-man battle, I think I’m looking at your attack and our press.
In the first game of the season, we struggled with your attack for much of the game, and Hugo Ekitike looked brilliant on his league debut.
It’s the likes of him, Florian Wirtz and Cody Gakpo, and their movement, that worries me a lot.
On the flip side, our best chance to catch you off guard is when we can make the most of our high press. It’s always a risk, but we’ve been successful in the last few weeks at setting traps and winning the ball high.
It’s just a case of whether we can actually make it count and score goals from those turnovers.
Finally, what’s your prediction?
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Friday, August 15, 2025: Liverpool's Federico Chiesa scores his side's third goal during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and AFC Bournemouth at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
I know you are on a run of draws at the moment, so I’m going to go with that continuing.
My heart says 2-2, but my head is a lot more pessimistic and says a 3-1 loss.
I’ll stick with my heart and hope we can nick a point.