Updates from 2pm (BST) kickoff at the Vitality Stadium
There have never been as many footballers in the world as there are now, there has never been as much money anywhere as there is in the Premier League now, and the use of data has never been as sophisticated; for those reasons, Premier League fixtures have never been as hard to predict nor of such high average standard. Every team has players good enough to hurt every other team.
Bournemouth v Liverpool offers a case in point. Andoni Iraola left Rayo Vallecano to join a team with a ground capacity of 11,307, who have won precisely no top-level honours, then used their scouting systems to attract players of calibre from clubs of similar or greater size. He then moved to Anfield, spending insane amounts of money on attackers the summer after Arne Slot did exactly the same at cost of his job, and yet it’d be no surprise whatsoever if his old club took the points today.
Thus far, the richer clubs have retained their advantage over the course of a season – having the best players, rather than players is enough to win them sufficient marginal games to keep reaching the Champions League – but, as we’ve already seen this weekend at Brentford and Brighton, week to week, they are prone to being out-thought and out-played. Might this be the season that their talent ID – for managers as well as players – is so good, that next, we see it backed in the market with Champions League money?
Both Bournemouth and Liverpool have made iffy starts to the season, learning new systems following a World Cup summer with squads built to someone else’s specifications, both much better going forward than backwards. And both will want a win to see them off into the international break, fearful of the deal sitting with a defeat for a fortnight entails. Which for us, means only good things – this should be a tussle.