Key events
44 min Bournemouth break out from the back and Elliott is sufficiently bothered to bring down Solanke in the centre circle. Still no cards.
42 min Bournemouth get in the box again, only to find Van Dijk blocking their way, literally. He blocks a shot from Kluivert and then he blocks a shot from Christie.
40 min The pendulum of possession has truly swung: it was 59-41 to Bournemouth, now it’s 63-37 to Liverpool. But Bournemouth are carving an opening after a fine ball out to the right wing from Christie. He keeps going and gets on the end of the cross, but there’s no power in his shot.
38 min Jota plays what might have been the cross of the day, a lovely little roll across the six-yard box, but it’s just behind the advancing Nunez.
36 min Now Diaz is down, after Kluivert, emerging from a one-on-one with Mac Allister, stepped on his ankle. Klopp has a friendly word with the fourth official. “In between yellow and red,” reckons Alan Smith. No card as far as I can tell, and Diaz is back on his feet.
34 min Liverpool string some more passes together. Jones collides with Tavernier and they both go down, but then they both get up again. Liverpool keep on passing. The latest person to take a long shot is Diaz, who doesn’t middle it or bother Neto.
32 min After taking ten minutes off, Bournemouth are back at their desk. Sinisterra sets off on a mazy run down the left, beating three defenders, then twisting and turning so much that he confuses himself.
31 min Liverpool threaten again as Diaz’s cross invites a scissor kick from Nunez. He accepts the invitation but misses the kick, then takes it out on the nearest defender and commits a cheap foul.
30 min As the half-hour comes up, it’s all Liverpool. The busy Elliott slips in the dangerous Diaz, who can’t quite gather it. Of the last 65 passes, 58 have been by players wearing white, black and random bits of green.
27 min Van Dijk out jumps everyone else but can only back-head the ball towards the touchline, perhaps because of a deflection. Liverpool keep the ball and pass it around. Diaz, now on the left, gets a cross in that Nunez, now in the middle, can’t reach, even with his pony tail.
26 min Liverpool’s progress continues with their first corner. Elliott fires it in, someone heads it out, Bradley crosses it back in, and Bournemouth shovel it away for another corner.
25 min Liverpool have another shot! Again it’s a long one, as Nunez tries to test Neto, but the strike isn’t as strong as the wind and the keeper is up to the challenge of dealing with them both.
24 min Nunez’s eyes light up as he comes storming in from the left, but after evading two defenders he is robbed by a third.
23 min Liverpool win a free kick 25 yards out … but it’s a poor one, curling straight out of play.
21 min Liverpool make a habit of finishing games more strongly than they started them. But Jurgen Klopp, who uses his subs so well, doesn’t have one today aged 25+. On the bench, the father of the house is Cody Gakpo, who is 24.
19 min LIVERPOOL HAVE HAD A SHOT! Alexis Mac Allister has a go from 25 yards, and misses.
18 min Bournemouth get into the box, twice, without managing to trouble the stats people.
17 min Liverpool finally get the ball for a while. Elliott, running down the inside-right channel, cuts back to Gomez, whose cross goes straight out. They’re missing Trent quite badly, but they are warming to the task.
16 min The only shot so far, that rather oblique effort by Tavernier, has not gone down in the official records. If a shot isn’t spotted by the stats people, did it ever happen?
13 min Nunez, who is on the left wing, send a fine switch over to the Liverpool right. But instead of Salah and Alexander-Arnold, that flank consists of Diaz and Bradley. Diaz fiddles about, looking for an opening. Bradley overlaps behind him but goes unnoticed, and the move fizzles out.
12 min Bournemouth have a chance to send Solanke through, but they mess it up. That’s the first time they’ve looked like a team from the lower half off the table.
10 min Bournemouth have had 59pc of the possession, although that may change soon as Liverpool are showing signs of life in midfield.
8 min This time Liverpool do escape. For a moment they have a three on two, but again Bournemouth stay calm at the back and Christie puts the fire out.
7 min Quarter-chance! Tavernier takes the corner short then shoots himself and goes close from a tight angle.
6 min Liverpool get forward at last as Jones and Jota threaten to cook something up down the left. But soon the ball is up the other end with Solanke racing onto a long throw. Another corner to Bournemouth.
4 min Bournemouth are also ahead in the sartorial stakes. Liverpool are wearing white shirts (with random green bits) and black shorts. Bournemouth are in there classic red-and-black stripes. No contest.
3 min Nothing comes of the second corner either, but when Liverpool try to get out on the counter, Chris Mepham is there to tidy up in composed fashion.
2 min The corner leads to some scrapping and another corner. Bournemouth are not remotely overawed.
1 min Bournemouth kick off, go long and get forward right away. Kluivert wins a corner on the right.
The cameras home in on Dominic Solanke, one of the best players in the Prem this season. And the one with the most shots (66). If he was still at Liverpool, he’d be playing today.
There’s another unfamiliar name on the lips of the commentators: Storm Isha. The wind is swirling around the ground. Can Liverpool’s big names do it on a blustery Sunday evening on the south coast?
Apparently we’re witnessing the closest title race, at this stage of the season, “for over 20 years”. Sky have just announced that without giving chapter and verse on what happened then. But it certainly is tasty, with only five points separating the top five teams. Can Liverpool stretch that to eight? We will soon see.
The sentence of the day comes from Rob Smyth, covering the other game. “David Moyes stomps off,” he writes, “with a face like the apocalypse.”
Oli McBurnie put the penalty away, so Sheffield United escape with a draw. It’s McBurnie time! They remain bottom of the table, but have reached double figures at last with 10 points from 21 games. West Ham stay sixth with 35 from 21 and miss the chance to make up significant ground on Spurs (40 from 21) or heap further embarrassment on Man United (32 from 21).
An odd feature of today’s games is that none of the four teams involved were in a position to move up or down the table. Whatever happens at the Vitality Stadium Liverpool will stay top, at least two points ahead of Man City for the moment. And Bournemouth will stay 12th, as they’re three points behind Wolves with a decidedly worse goal difference (-7 plays -1).
Twelfth, though, is riches for a team who were 19th on 20 October. After scraping three points from their first eight games, Bournemouth have raked in 22 from the past 11.
In today’s other game, Sheffield United are about to take a penalty in the 12th minute of added time … Do join Rob Smyth to see what happens next.
Pre-match reading
Can Liverpool stop City winning the title? Sachin Nakrani has been pondering that question and looking at the way Jurgen Klopp has revamped the midfield. Jordan who?
The wingers may be licking their lips
The unfamiliar names in those XIs are all at full-back. For Liverpool, the roles of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson (and Kostas Tsimikas) go to their understudies, Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez. For Bournemouth, the roles of Adam Smith and Milos Kerkez go to Max Aarons and James Hill, who has spent most of the season on loan at Blackburn. Hill is a centre-back, so it may be that Andoni Iraola is switching to a back three.
The teams
Bournemouth (possible 4-2-3-1) Neto; Aarons, Mepham, Zabarnyi, Hill; Cook, Christie; Sinisterra, Tavernier, Kluivert; Solanke.
Subs: Travers, Kelly, Greenwood, Marcondes, Scott, Brooks, Billing, Kilkenny, Moore.
Liverpool (forever 4-3-3) Alisson; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Gomez; Elliott, Mac Allister, Jones; Jota, Nunez, Diaz.
Subs: Adrian, Kelleher, Quansah, Beck, McConnell, Clark, Gravenberch, Gakpo.
Referee Andrew Madley.
Preamble
Afternoon everyone and welcome to the teatime MBM. Premier League football is a simple game: 20 teams chase a trophy for nine months and then Man City win. Unless Jurgen Klopp can stop them.
There’s a widespread feeling that City have it in the bag again, after toying with us by getting only seven points from a run of six games before the Club World Cup. But they’re not top of the form table (which covers the last six games for every club) – Liverpool are. In fact, City are not even second: Bournemouth are.
After a sticky start Andoni Iraola has built on Gary O’Neil’s good work and got Bournemouth flying. His team know how to win, play proper football, and have gone from bad to excellent at home. Liverpool’s away form has improved too, going from middling to more than decent, but today they’re without their two most lethal weapons, Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold. The Opta algorithm gives Bournemouth only a 15pc chance of a win today, but a mere human says it might make sense to double that.
Kick-off is at 4.30pm GMT and I’ll be back soon with the teams.
