With four wins and 13 points from their last five Premier League games, including a 7-0 historic demolition of historic rivals Manchester United that put the Reds within three points of fourth place with a game in hand, Jürgen Klopp’s men are very much back. Now they have to make sure they don’t slip up when they face last-place Bournemouth, a side they beat by a gargantuan 9-0 scoreline in the autumn and that few will be expecting to get anything out of Saturday’s early kickoff.
On paper, it should be about as easy as a game in the English top flight gets. Games aren’t played on paper, though, as the old adage goes, and in practice Liverpool need to make sure they don’t take a result against their next opponents for granted—especially when despite being in 20th, a shock upset could be enough to lift the Cherries all the way to 16th and safety, meaning their opponents still have everything to play for this season despite their lowly current standing.