Chris Sutton will eat his words after what he said about Liverpool game v Bournemouth
Arne Slot will no doubt be very pleased with where he finds his side sitting in his debut season at Liverpool.
The Reds occupy the top spot in the Premier League table and have a six-point lead over Arsenal.
There is plenty of football to still be played both in the league and in cup competitions so the Merseyside outfit will have to keep their standards high to ensure the high volume of games don’t take their toll.
After losing 3-2 against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Wednesday (29 January), Slot will be keen to get back to winning ways in league action.
The Reds face a trip to Bournemouth on Saturday (1 February) which won’t be an easy game given the Cherries are in excellent form.
In fact, writing his BBC Sport predictions (30 January), Chris Sutton has admitted he doesn’t see Liverpool winning as he said: “Liverpool had the luxury of resting players for their final Champions League group game, Wednesday’s defeat at PSV Eindhoven, and still finish top of the table.
“There are some who will question whether that is in the spirit of the competition, but if you were Reds boss Arne Slot then what would you do? They are trying to win everything at the moment and they had earned the right to make those changes.
“His players will be well rested for this game but I just have a feeling about Bournemouth at the moment.
“The Cherries are depleted by injuries, and you cannot discount Mohamed Salah winning it for Liverpool the way he has done so many times before.
“But Andoni Iraola’s side have already beaten Arsenal and Manchester City here this season, as well as Forest and Newcastle, and they have taken as many points as Liverpool – 22 – in their past 10 matches.
“My first thought was to go for a 2-2 draw but then I was reminded of the pledge I made last week to be braver and back Bournemouth more.
“That helped me to be right about them beating Forest, so I don’t really have much choice but to carry on being brave, do I? Prediction: 2-1.”
Liverpool to make Chris Sutton eat his words
Bournemouth are having an excellent season and sitting seventh in the table, they will have their eyes on European football next term which has exceeded all expectations put upon them.
Furthermore, the Cherries are unbeaten in 11 top-flight games, including a 5-0 victory against third-placed Nottingham Forest on Saturday (25 January) so they will feel confident at home.
However, Liverpool’s unbeaten league run goes all the way back to September so it’s not as if the league leaders are underdogs coming into this one after one loss with a much weakened side out.
In addition to this, the Cherries have been hit massively with injury issues of late with the likes of Enes Unal, Evanilson and Marcos Senesi among those sidelined.
With that in mind, while it certainly won’t be a walkover for the Merseyside outfit, they should be feeling fairly confident in their ability to get a result from this game which would leave Sutton eating his words.
In other Liverpool news, Virgil van Dijk could be among a host of Reds stars to return against Bournemouth.
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