Liverpool will host Bournemouth at Anfield on Friday in the opening game of the 2025-26 Premier League season. After a successful title defence effort last season, Liverpool will be aiming to begin their new campaign positively on home soil. The Reds have an excellent recent record against Bournemouth, winning five of the last six league meetings, and are unbeaten in their last 17 home league matches. This consistency at Anfield backs them as strong favourites for this match.
Liverpool’s squad is in fairly good shape ahead of the game. Florian Wirtz will almost certainly make his league debut for Liverpool, while new signing Hugo Ekitike will hope to make it two goals in two for his new club after scoring at Wembley at the weekend.
Liverpool lost on penalties to Crystal Palace in the Community Shield on Sunday afternoon and will be hoping for an immediate rebound here. The Reds looked very good in patches but also looked fairly vulnerable in transitions, something that they'll hope is not a sign of an incoming theme.
Bournemouth come into the match on the back of a ninth-place finish last season, a fine campaign under manager Andoni Iraola. They had a relatively solid away record, winning seven and drawing seven of their 19 Premier League away matches last season. However, they're going to be a very different team this season having lost 75% of last season's back four, with Dean Huijsen, Illya Zabarnyi and Milos Kerkez all departing the club. Goalkeeper Dorde Petrovic and left-back Adrien Truffert have joined, but the Cherries are still looking light compared to last season.
Bournemouth have a terrible record against Liverpool (12 defeats in their last 13 meetings) and have never win at Anfield in their history. They'll no doubt look to exploit transitions and limit the attack of Mohamed Salah, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike, but that job is far from easy. The last three head-to-head matchups between the two have produced three wins for Liverpool with an aggregate scoreline of 9-0, and while Bournemouth won't be pushovers, they're unlikely to reverse the trend of results.
Liverpool 3-1 Bournemouth
