Bournemouth stun Liverpool in comeback victory

Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth staged one of the comebacks of the season to defeat Liverpool 4-3 at Vitality Stadium.

Having trailed 2-0 at the interval to Liverpool with two goals in as many minutes from Sadio Mane and Divock Origi giving Jurgen Klopp’s the advantage, the Cherries fought their way back into the tie with a Callum Wilson penalty.

The Reds pressed again and restored their two-goal lead with a fine Emre Can strike, before the Cherries bagged two in two minutes of their own from Ryan Fraser and Steve Cook to level the game.

And it was dreamland for Howe’s boys as Nathan Ake fired home an injury-time winner for the hosts.

The Reds have been accused of lacking enough bite in defence to win the Premier League and their brittleness in that department cost them dearly. The defeat brings to an end their run of 16 matches unbeaten, which extended back to 20 August.

The Cherries had only lost twice at home this season, but hadn’t beaten Liverpool in any competition since 1927, they had also never scored more than two goals against their illustrious opposition. What a way to break those records it was.

The defeat leaves Liverpool third in the table, four points off leaders Man City; Bournemouth, meanwhile, climb into the top half.

The pre-match build-up was marked by a minute’s silence for those that lost their lives in the recent Chapecoense plane crash, before Georginio Wijnaldum got things underway for the Reds at the south-coast venue.

And the visitors were the side that should have broken the deadlock as early as the tenth minute. Nathaniel Clyne was picked out on the right and delivered a deep cross to Origi at the back post only for the striker to miscue and put a gilt-edged effort wide when it most certainly should have been 1-0 Liverpool.

Klopp’s side were well on top in the early exchanges as they pegged the home team back into their own half and pressed their back four, with star striker Firmino dominating down the left flank for the Reds.

It looked a matter of time before Liverpool broke the deadlock and that was exactly as it transpired with two goals in two minutes and four seconds, with poor decisions by Bournemouth keeper Artur Boruc having a hand in both.

For the first, Can played a sublime ball over the top of the home defence from the left flank, with Mane outsprinting Ake to get to the ball and with Boruc racing out to claim, but finding himself in no man’s land, the striker stroked home to the right of the net with the outside of his right foot.

Bournemouth barely had time to settle before finding themselves 2-0 down. Mane stole possession in his own half, before teeing up Jordan Henderson to release Origi with a ball down the right flank. Boruc again rushed out to claim but was once more caught in no-man’s land, Origi rounded the keeper and finished home from wide and right and a very acute angle. It was just 23 minutes in and already the game looked like you could stick a fork in it – Bournemouth were done, or so we thought.

It was still all Liverpool as the game ticked past the half hour, with Firmino toying with the Cherries defence on the edge of the box before having a pop at goal, this time the effort not accurate enough and going left and wide.

The Cherries first real shot in anger came ten minutes before the break with Junior Stanislas releasing Joshua King with a through ball into the area as James Milner was caught out of position. The right-sided midfielder latched onto the pass and drove into the box before shooting back across goal, only for keeper Loris Karius to get down and parry away for a corner.

From that set-piece Bournemouth looked very unlucky not to have been awarded a spot kick by referee Robert Madley. The ball came to Ake at the top of the box, who cut inside and past Firmino, only for the Brazilian to stretch out a lazy leg and bring him down; it looked a spot kick and Bournemouth were rightly aggrieved to see it waved on, as Liverpool’s two-goal lead remained intact until the interval.

The Cherries introduced Jordon Ibe at the break for King as they changed from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 in the search for a goal to pull them back into the tie.

A slow-burning start to the second half was sparked into the life by a Bournemouth penalty. Substitute Fraser, in attempting to get onto a ball into the Liverpool box, was tripped by makeshift left-back Milner and went tumbling to the turf. This time referee Madley pointed straight to the spot and Wilson stepped up to send keeper Karius the wrong way and bury home to the left and make it a one-goal game.

Only 22 times in 1,061 previous occasions of a team leading 2-0 in the Premier League has a side gone on to lose the game and Liverpool were desperately attempting to avoid adding to that losing statistic as they gave an almost immediate response. Mane zigzagged past two Cherries defenders down the right flank before squaring for Cane to fire home to the top-right corner from the edge of the area, leaving Boruc no chance in nets.

Mane’s contribution had been a significant one and Klopp opted to withdraw the attacker with 22 minutes to go, bringing Adam Lallana into the fray.

Milner almost made amends for conceding the second-half penalty in the most spectacular of styles. Having won a corner on the left, the former Aston Villa and Man City man took the set-piece himself, attempting to curl the effort directly into the net with Boruc off his line; as the ball spun back towards the net, Boruc scrambled back to claim and only just prevent a Liverpool fourth.

The game had turned into an end-to-end affair and the Cherries delivered some inspirational play to draw level with their own two goals in two minutes to match Liverpool’s attacking display in the first half.

Sub Fraser was the key man in both goals. The first he started with a through ball in a counter-attacking move before Wilson crossed to the centre, Liverpool bungled an attempted clearance and Fraser was there to smash home his first Premier League goal to the bottom right.

For the second Fraser turned provider as he crossed from the right for Cook to take down, turn and volley past Karis in goal to make the teams level heading into the end game.

The Cherries should have led just three minutes later as Dejan Lovren and Lucas were found wanting in midfield leaving Benik Afobe to power through on goal, with only a superb Karius save denying Bournemouth the lead.

With five minutes added on for injuries both sides were afford plenty of time to find the game’s seventh goal and the winner.

Origi very nearly got it for Liverpool as he took down a dropping ball from a corner and volleyed towards goal on the turn, his effort skewing over the right-side of the crossbar.

One of the best cliches in football is that if you don’t take your chances you’ll live to regret it and it rang true for Liverpool. The Cherries pressed the Reds in injury time and fed Cook down the left, who instead of lofting a cross into the area, hammered a shot at Karius in goal, who failed to deal with it, instead fumbling into the path of Ake to clip home and win the game for the south-coast side at the death in a stunning game of ball.

Photo: Getty/Michael Steele

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