BOURNEMOUTH, Jan 22: Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota scored second-half doubles as Premier League leader Liverpool moved five points clear with a crushing 4-0 victory at Bournemouth on Sunday.
The Reds initially struggled to create many openings at the Vitality Stadium in the absence of top scorer Mohamed Salah.
However, Nunez broke the deadlock in the 49th and completed the scoring in stoppage time following Jota’s quickfire double.
Victory on a soggy south coast afternoon stretched Liverpool’s unbeaten run to 14 league fixtures as the team fully capitalized on a weekend off for second-place Manchester City, which has a game in hand.
In-form Bournemouth was competitive for large parts of a frenetic encounter, but rarely threatened on the way to only its second defeat in nine games.
A difficult outing for Andoni Iraola’s team could have been worse, with Justin Kluivert perhaps fortunate to escape a red card for a first-half challenge on Luis Diaz.
Liverpool was back in top-flight action for the first time since New Year’s Day but without Salah — who has sustained a hamstring injury at the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt — in the league for the first time this season.
The Reds were unable to find fluency in the opening stages as Bournemouth began brighter, albeit without testing Alisson.
Klopp’s team grew into the game and eventually enjoyed some meaningful territory. Alexis Mac Allister fired wide from distance, before long-range efforts from Nunez and Diaz were comfortably collected by goalkeeper Neto.
Following a fairly forgettable first half, Liverpool made the most of sloppy defending to go ahead.
Ibrahima Konate’s crossfield ball was chested down by the unmarked Curtis Jones and then moved on to Jota, whose first-time pass was confidently slotted into the bottom-right corner by Nunez.
Nunez, who was unfavorably compared to former Liverpool striker Andy Carroll by gloating home fans in the first half, was also involved in his side’s 70th-minute second.
The powerful Uruguay forward caused problems for Bournemouth defender Chris Mepham, allowing Reds substitute Cody Gakpo to pounce on the loose ball and slip in Jota to find the net via the base of the right post.
Jota extinguished any hope of a Cherries fightback just nine minutes later. The Portugal forward miskicked his first effort following a pass from Premier League debutant Conor Bradley, but swiftly silenced ironic cheers by rifling into the bottom-left corner.
Cherries substitute David Brooks wasted a golden chance to claim a consolation when he dinked wide in the 90th minute.
And Nunez, who claimed the winner when the clubs met in the English League Cup fourth round at the start of November, rubbed salted into Bournemouth wounds three minutes into added time by registering his second with a fine close-range finish. (AP)
