Liverpool kicked off the 2025-26 Premier League season in style by beating Bournemouth 4-2. While the Reds showed their quality in the final third, a few defensive concerns were raised.
Hugo Ekitike certainly impressed during his first Premier League outing, producing a goal and an assist on his Anfield debut.
After being two goals down, Bournemouth battled valiantly to get back into the game and a brace from Antoine Semenyo brought the game back to 2-2.
With the game firmly in the balance, Liverpool threw the kitchen sink at Andoni Iraola’s side and goals from Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah wrapped up the game for the Reds.
While there were certainly lots of positives to take from the game from a Liverpool perspective, Bournemouth did highlight some of their defensive vulnerabilities.
“It was a superb game and Bournemouth more than played their part,” former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“They put Liverpool on the ropes for large parts of this game and showed their vulnerabilities. They are susceptible on the counter attack.
“When Federico Chiesa got that goal the Anfield crowd lifted the team, they had to, then Mohamed Salah wrapped it up.
“Not the most impressive performance tonight from Liverpool, good in patches, but they will have to be better to retain their title.”
After the dust has settled on the season opener, we’ve gathered seven brilliant and concerning stats from Liverpool’s 4-2 triumph over Bournemouth.
– Hugo Ekitike is only the second player to both score and assist a goal on his Premier League debut for Liverpool. The other player was Darwin Nunez against Fulham.
– Antoine Semenyo is the first visiting player to score a brace at Anfield in the Premier League since September 2022. Brighton’s Leandro Trossard was the last player who managed it.
– Federico Chiesa’s winning goal in the 88th minute was Liverpool’s latest ever match-winning goal on an opening Premier League weekend.
– Salah has scored more goals on the opening day of the Premier League (10) than any other player.
– The Egyptian forward has now tied level on Premier League goals (187) with Andy Cole. Impressively, he’s reached that tally in 112 fewer games than it took Cole.
– Liverpool have conceded seven big chances in their last two competitive matches. Four against Crystal Palace in the Community Shield and three against Bournemouth.
– Both Milos Kerkez and Ibrahima Konate only won 50% of their ground duels. In contrast, Virgil van Dijk won 100% of his ground duels and 91% of his aerial duels.
– Liverpool conceded two league goals to Opta-defined fast breaks in the entirety of last season. They conceded as many in just the opening match of 2025-26 (credit to @BassTunedToRed)
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