Premier League: Bournemouth boost their survival chances
AFC Bournemouth 1 - 0 Liverpool
Mohamed Salah's awful penalty miss helped Bournemouth climb out of the relegation zone after an excellent win that damaged Liverpool's chances of qualifying for next season's Champions League.
PL reaction: Liverpool 7 - 0 Manchester United
Back down to earth with a bump
Jurgen Klopp's were brought back down to earth after last week's 7-0 thrashing of Manchester United as the Cherries did their survival chances a power of good.
Liverpool were punished for poor defending when the unmarked Philip Billing struck after fine work by Dango Ouattara.
Virgil van Dijk had a header cleared off the line at 0-0 and substitute Diogo Jota was denied by Neto's fine save. This was before Liverpool won a penalty when the Portugal forward's header was handled by Adam Smith. However, Salah blazed the penalty wide much to the delight of Bournemouth's fans.
While the win ensured Bournemouth finished the day 17th, Liverpool missed the chance to go into the Champions League places for the first time this season.
Manager and player reaction
Bournemouth manager Gary O'Neil told BT Sport: "A big result, obviously. Smiling, I haven't smiled after games that much recently so that's been coming, to be honest. Manchester City and Arsenal were two performances that the boys should have been proud of and we didn't take anything from them. But today, fine margins go in our favour and we beat one of the best teams in England."
Dango Ouattara tweeted: "Very happy to have taken three points at home and to have been elected man of the match this afternoon against Liverpool."
This was the reaction of the Liverpool boss.
Jürgen Klopp assessed a ‘very, very, very frustrating’ day after our 1-0 loss against AFC Bournemouth.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 11, 2023
Trent Alexander-Arnold also spoke of Liverpool’s disappointment in their performance following the defeat at AFC Bournemouth.
What are the fans saying?
Will, a Liverpool fan from Bradford, said: "You just knew that was going to happen. We perform so well against the big six but struggle so often against the teams near the bottom of the table."
Benjamin, another Liverpool fan, was also highly critical of his side's performance. He said: "We don't deserve to finish in the Champions League. If anything, I'd say a year out of the competition would do us some good. It would give us more time on the training pitch."
Ryan, a Bournemouth fan, told us: "Amazing from everyone on Saturday. What a win. I am now a lot more confident that we can stay up."
Gavin, a neutral fan, told us: "I really enjoyed this match. Bournemouth deserved the win and have given themselves a fantastic chance of staying in the Premier League."
Great job Dom 👏👏👏
— Wenders (@WendyCherries) March 11, 2023
On we go #believe 🍒 #afcb
