Ten-man Liverpool beat Bournemouth, Brighton top Premier League
AFP
Liverpool beat Bournemouth 3-1 on Saturday to deny Alexis McAllister a red card on his Anfield debut, while Brighton beat Wolves 4-1 to go top of the Premier League.
Bournemouth had lost 9-0 on the tour of Anfield a year earlier but could not have asked for a better start.
The Cherries had the ball in the net with seconds to spare but Jadon Anthony’s tap-in was disallowed for offside.
The arrival of Trent Alexander-Arnold in a midfield role marked a strong end for Liverpool to a disappointing season last term, but he was guilty of giving away the ball to Antoine Semenyo’s opener after just three minutes.
Liverpool were in need of some inspiration to start their season after a 1-1 draw at Chelsea last weekend.
Luis Diaz provided it when he flicked on Diogo Jota’s cross and then acrobaticly fired an overhead kick into the bottom corner.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were ahead nine minutes before half-time, but Mohamed Salah needed a second chance to tap in the rebound after Neto saved a penalty.
The Egyptian has now failed to score in three of his last five penalties, including a penalty when Bournemouth won the last meeting between the two sides in March.