Liverpool F.C. 9–0 AFC Bournemouth

Liverpool v Bournemouth

Event	2022–23 Premier League
Liverpool Bournemouth 9 0
Date	27 August 2022
Venue	Anfield, Liverpool
Man of the Match	Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)
Referee	Stuart Attwell (Birmingham)
Attendance	53,328

The 2022–23 Premier League match between Liverpool and Bournemouth at Anfield, Liverpool, took place on Saturday 27 August 2022.^[1] Liverpool won 9–0, which is the joint-largest win in the history of the competition.^[1] Previously, the feat had been achieved on three occasions in the Premier League; twice by Manchester United in 1995 and 2021 against Ipswich Town and Southampton respectively, and once by Leicester City in 2019, also against Southampton.^[2][3][4]

This match equalled Liverpool's biggest win in the top flight. They achieved the same scoreline at Anfield during the 1989–90 season against Crystal Palace. This was also Bournemouth's worst ever top-flight defeat. Bournemouth manager Scott Parker was sacked three days after the match.^[5][6]

Background

Going into Gameweek 4 of the 2022–23 Premier League season, Liverpool, who were runners-up in the previous season,^[7] were enduring their worst start to a Premier League under manager Jürgen Klopp.^[8] They drew with newly-promoted Fulham and Crystal Palace, before losing away to rivals Manchester United. Meanwhile, despite beating Aston Villa at home on the opening day, Bournemouth, who were promoted from the EFL Championship in the previous season, were experiencing a similarly disappointing start to the season with one win and two defeats.^[9]

Pre-match

Team selection

Liverpool made one change to the starting line-up that lost their previous match away at Manchester United; Brazilian holding-midfielder Fabinho was preferred to veteran James Milner. Centre-back Virgil van Dijk and midfielder Jordan Henderson made their 200th and 400th Premier League appearances respectively.^[10][11]

Bournemouth made three changes to the team who lost 3–0 at home to then league leaders Arsenal with Lewis Cook, Ryan Christie and Jaidon Anthony all coming into the starting XI.

Tributes to Olivia Pratt-Korbel

In the 9th minute of the match, with Liverpool leading 2–0, a minute's applause commenced, to pay tribute to Olivia Pratt-Korbel, a nine-year-old girl from Liverpool who was murdered by a trespasser in her own home. This was the first fixture played by Liverpool since the shooting. Two days prior to the match in a press conference, manager Klopp had described the killing as "such a tragedy" before saying "If we can help, we will".^[12] On the day of the match, Klopp wrote in his programme notes: “Nine years old? How can this happen? How is it even possible? I cannot comprehend it and the more I think about it, the more difficult it becomes to understand. That it could happen in a city as special as this one where people look out for one another and stand together makes even less sense. I would like to pass on the sympathies of everyone at Liverpool to Olivia’s family. They are in my thoughts and prayers.”^[13]

After the match, Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson removed his shirt with a vest underneath bearing the slogan: “RIP Olivia YNWA".^[13] He then tweeted "That was for Olivia" later that evening.^[14]

Match

Summary

Liverpool raced into a 2–0 lead within the first six minutes through a Luis Díaz header and long-range effort from Harvey Elliott, the latter getting his first Premier League goal. Further strikes from Trent Alexander-Arnold and Roberto Firmino made it 4–0, before Virgil van Dijk headed in from a corner just before half-time.^[15]

Bournemouth defender Chris Mepham scored an own goal within a minute of the second half starting, before Firmino poked in the seventh, in the process reaching 100 goals for the club. Fábio Carvalho volleyed in his first goal for Liverpool before Díaz headed in the ninth with five minutes left.^[16]

Details

27 August 2022 (2022-08-27)

15:00 BST

Liverpool	9–0	Bournemouth
Díaz 3', 85' Elliott 6' Alexander-Arnold 28' Firmino 31', 62' Van Dijk 45' Mepham 46' (o.g.) Carvalho 80'	Report

Anfield, Liverpool

Attendance: 53,328

Referee: Stuart Attwell (Birmingham)^[17]

Liverpool

Bournemouth

GK 1 Alisson RB 66 Trent Alexander-Arnold  83' CB 2 Joe Gomez CB 4 Virgil van Dijk LB 26 Andrew Robertson  69' CM 19 Harvey Elliott  45' CM 3 Fabinho CM 14 Jordan Henderson (c)  70' RF 11 Mohamed Salah CF 9 Roberto Firmino  69' LF 23 Luis Díaz Substitutes: GK 13 Adrián GK 95 Harvey Davies DF 21 Kostas Tsimikas  69' DF 43 Stefan Bajcetic  70' DF 47 Nat Phillips DF 72 Sepp van den Berg MF 7 James Milner  69' MF 28 Fábio Carvalho  45' FW 42 Bobby Clark  83' Manager: Jürgen Klopp

GK 1 Mark Travers RB 15 Adam Smith (c)  35'  45' CB 6 Chris Mepham  82' CB 25 Marcos Senesi LB 33 Jordan Zemura CM 4 Lewis Cook  77' CM 8 Jefferson Lerma RW 32 Jaidon Anthony AM 10 Ryan Christie  45' LW 16 Marcus Tavernier CF 21 Kieffer Moore Substitutes: GK 13 Neto DF 17 Jack Stacey DF 23 James Hill DF 35 Owen Bevan  82' MF 11 Emiliano Marcondes  82' MF 22 Ben Pearson  77'  82' MF 29 Philip Billing  45' FW 9 Dominic Solanke  45' FW 38 Christian Saydee Manager: Scott Parker

Assistant referees:[17] Marc Perry (Berks & Bucks) James Mainwaring (Lancashire) Fourth official:[17] Matt Donohue (Manchester) Video assistant referee:[17] Craig Pawson (Sheffield & Hallamshire) Assistant video assistant referee:[17] Timothy Wood (Gloucestershire)

Match rules 90 minutes Nine named substitutes Maximum of five substitutions[a]

Statistics

Overall^[18]

Statistic	Liverpool	Bournemouth
Goals scored	9	0
Total shots	19	5
Shots on target	12	2
Touches	849	455
Passes	681	303
Tackles	12	20
Clearances	3	17
Ball possession	69.4%	30.6%
Corner kicks	8	1
Fouls conceded	6	5
Offsides	3	0
Yellow cards	0	1
Red cards	0	0

Aftermath

After the match, Bournemouth manager Scott Parker said he was "not surprised" by the result, stating the team was "ill-equipped". He was subsequently sacked by the club on 30 August, with owner Maxim Demin citing the need for "unconditional... [alignment] in our strategy to run the club sustainably", which was interpreted as a reaction to Parker's comments.^[5][6] Parker was replaced as manager by Gary O'Neil on the same day; first on an interim basis, then permanently on 27 November.^[5][19][20]

The two teams played again in the reverse fixture on 11 March 2023 at the Vitality Stadium. Bournemouth defeated Liverpool 1–0 through a first-half goal by Philip Billing and a missed second-half penalty from Liverpool's Mohamed Salah. The score was seen as a shock, given the earlier result and the teams' respective forms — Liverpool were unbeaten in five after a historic 7–0 thrashing of in-form rivals Manchester United, while Bournemouth began the day at the bottom of the Premier League table.^[21]

Notes

1. Each team was given only three opportunities to make substitutions, excluding substitutions made at half-time.

References

1. Hafez, Shamoon (27 August 2022). "Liverpool 9-0 Bournemouth: Diaz, Elliott, Alexander-Arnold, Firmino, Van Dijk all score". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
2. "Man Utd v Ipswich, 1994/95 | Premier League". Premier League. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
3. "Man Utd v Southampton, 2020/21 | Premier League". Premier League. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
4. "Southampton v Leicester, 2019/20 | Premier League". Premier League. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
5. "Scott Parker: Bournemouth sack head coach after 9-0 defeat by Liverpool". BBC Sport. 30 August 2022. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
6. "Statement: Scott Parker". AFC Bournemouth. 30 August 2022. Archived from the original on 3 September 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
7. Wallace, Sam; Thomas, Harri (22 May 2022). "Liverpool's victory over Wolves in vain as quadruple bid ends". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 28 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
8. "The reasons Liverpool have made their worst start to a season under Jürgen Klopp". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
9. "AFC Bournemouth promoted to Premier League". Premier League. Archived from the original on 28 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
10. lookcharms (28 August 2022). "Van Dijk played his 200th Premier League game". US Sports (in French). Archived from the original on 23 July 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
11. Blow, Tom (27 August 2022). "Liverpool equal Premier League record with Bournemouth win - 5 talking points". Irish Mirror. Archived from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
12. "Olivia Pratt-Korbel live updates". Archived from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
13. Bartlett, Evan (27 August 2022). "Olivia Pratt-Korbel: Henderson and Klopp pay tribute to murdered girl in Liverpool's 9-0 win over Bournemouth". i News. Archived from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
14. @JHenderson (27 August 2022). "That was for Olivia ❤️ #YNWA" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022 – via Twitter.
15. "Liverpool hit nine in ruthless rout of Bournemouth to end winless run". The Guardian. 27 August 2022. Archived from the original on 8 November 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
16. "Liverpool 9-0 Bournemouth: Rampant Reds equal Premier League record win". Sky Sports. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
17. "Match officials for Matchweek 4". Premier League. 25 August 2022. Archived from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
18. "Liverpool equal Premier League record with 9-0 win over Bournemouth". Premier League. 27 August 2022. Archived from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
19. "Gary O'Neil appointed head coach". AFCB. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
20. "Bournemouth make O'Neil permanent manager". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 18 January 2023. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
21. "Bournemouth 1–0 Liverpool". BBC Sport. 11 March 2023. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.