Bournemouth will be without nine players against Liverpool this weekend with Andoni Iraola still in the midst of an injury crisis. Marcus Tavernier returned during the Cherries’ 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest last weekend but no one else has come back since.
“I think it’s basically going to be the same squad we had against Forest the other day,” Iraola said during his pre-match press conference. “The only player that has started doing things with us is Luis Sinisterra, from the ones injured. We will assess him today but it’s not sure that he will be involved tomorrow.”
Summer signing Evanilson, who was doing well as a replacement for former Liverpool striker Dominic Solanke, who moved to Spurs, is out with a fractured metatarsal. Fellow striker Enes Unal, who is his understudy, is also out, meaning wide forward Dango Ouattara has been playing as a makeshift number nine.
Defenders James Hill, Julian Araujo, Marcos Senesi and Adam Smith are also sidelined at the moment with various muscle injuries. Midfielder Alex Scott has a knee injury and Julio Soler is absent as he is representing Argentina at the U20 South American Championships.
“They have beaten so many strong teams and there is a simple reason for that: a lot of quality created by Richard [Hughes, former Bournemouth director who now works for Liverpool],” Arne Slot said during his own press conference. “He hired a fantastic manager as well, why is he a fantastic manager? He has a good game plan and his players work incredibly hard.”
Liverpool is currently six points clear of Arsenal in the Premier League standings and still has a game in hand to play. That is against Everton and will be played on February 12 at Goodison Park.
Liverpool.com says: Bournemouth will make things tricky for Liverpool, without a shadow of a doubt. Ultimately, though, the Reds would be putting down a huge marker by winning the match. It would send a big message to Arsenal before its match against Manchester City if Liverpool could get the three points on Saturday.