Bournemouth are one of the worst teams in the league at defending from set pieces. No team concedes more shots per 90 from dead ball situations than Bournemouth with 2.84 conceded per 90. Liverpool create the 4th most shots per 90 from dead ball situations with an average of 2.4 per match. Liverpool started van Dijk and Konate together at centre back against Manchester United, this was only the 4th time they have played a full 90 together but they have won all 4 matches.

I expect the same pairing in this match meaning Konate can also get in the box for set pieces. Konate has averaged 0.64 shots per 90 this season and against Manchester United, who allow the 3rd most shots per 90 from set pieces, he had a shot. Konate is very good value for a shot in this match against a team that are so weak at defending set pieces.

One of Bournemouth’s best players is Philip Billing, he is pacey and can get forward quickly to support counter attacks but is also intelligent when finding positions for shooting. Billing averages 1.1 shots per 90 and recently under Gary O’Neil he has been vital for Bournemouth while attacking. Billing has had at least 1 shot in 5 of his last 6 matches including matches against Arsenal, Manchester City and Newcastle, he also had 2 shots against Manchester United in early January.

While Liverpool haven’t conceded in their last 5 league matches, they have given up 38 shots in these 5 matches so Bournemouth should still get some shots away in this match. Liverpool will be confident but will still have some fragility that can be exploited so Billing should be able to have at least 1 shot again in this match.

Cody Gakpo has got a good grasp on his role at Liverpool and you can see his relationship with Salah and Nunez starting to flourish. Opposition centre backs struggle to deal with the range of Liverpool attackers and the way they rotate. Chris Mepham will be starting at centre back and struggled against Arsenal and Manchester City, he committed fouls in both those matches and averages 0.77 fouls per 90.

He struggles particularly against the higher quality teams, he committed fouls in both his matches against Manchester City and Arsenal as well as against Spurs and Newcastle. Mepham will struggle with the movement of Liverpool’s front three, so I see him committing a foul here.

Bournemouth have gone very defensive in their last 2 matches against Arsenal and Manchester City, allowing their opposition a lot of passes and they will do the same here. Akanji and Rico Lewis who both play in sort of a right back position for City had 100 and 75 passes respectively. For Arsenal, 6 of their players had more than 70 passes and their right backs combined for 92 passes.

Trent Alexander-Arnold averages the most passes per 90 of any Liverpool player this season at an average of 88 per 90. In 6 of Trent’s last 7 matches he has attempted at least 70 passes, only failing to do so when he was subbed off after 70 minutes, however he was already at 65 passes in this match. Bournemouth average the least possession of any team in the league at 38.5%, I think he is more than capable of having over 90 passes in this match so he should easily have more than 70 passes here.