Premier League football returns on Friday night as champions Liverpool welcome Bournemouth to Anfield to kick off the 2025-26 season.
Arne Slot’s side head into the season opener determined to bounce back from last weekend’s Community Shield defeat to Crystal Palace, while the visitors look to build on their best-ever top-flight points tally from last season.
Liverpool vs Bournemouth – Preview
The Reds had a strong pre-season, winning five of their six friendlies. Victories over Preston, Stoke, AC Milan, and Athletic Bilbao showcased their attacking depth, with only AC Milan managing to beat them. However, their momentum was checked last weekend when Palace edged them on penalties in the Community Shield, despite goals from Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong.
Liverpool haven’t lost an opening-day fixture since 2012 and will be confident of maintaining that record, especially with several high-profile summer signings ready to make their league debuts.
Andoni Iraola’s side enjoyed a mixed summer. They started well with wins over Hibernian, Bristol City, and Everton, but failed to win any of their final four matches. Heavy defeats to Manchester United (4-1) and West Ham (2-0) were followed by back-to-back draws against Real Sociedad, with new goalkeeper Djorde Petrovic saving a penalty in their final outing.
Bournemouth are unbeaten on the opening day for the last seven seasons, but they face a major test at Anfield after losing several key players this summer, including Milos Kerkez to Liverpool, Illia Zabarnyi to PSG, and Dean Huijsen to Real Madrid.
Liverpool vs Bournemouth – Team News
Ryan Gravenberch will miss the season opener after receiving a red card on the final day of last season against Crystal Palace.
Joe Gomez has returned to training after recovering from an Achilles injury and could make the bench. Arne Slot explained:
“I think he only trained twice now, missed quite a lot in pre-season. But if you looked at our bench against Palace, I think there were three players that were 20 years old or younger.
“So, there is a possibility that Joe might be on the bench, but I have to look at the numbers and who we’re going to take.”
Alexis Mac Allister is fit to play despite recent fitness concerns, while Conor Bradley remains sidelined. Milos Kerkez is set to face his former club at left-back.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth captain Lewis Cook is serving the second match of a three-game suspension after being sent off in the penultimate game of last season. He has also picked up an injury in a behind-closed-doors match, which would have ruled him out regardless.
The south coast side also has several other injuries, with Enes Unal, Ryan Christie, Justin Kluivert, and Luis Sinisterra all going through different periods of their recovery.
“Justin hasn’t been training with us and won’t play,” Cherries boss Andoni Iraola said on Thursday afternoon. Ryan has been training this week with us, which is positive. It’s too early for him to play as he hasn’t done any pre-season. He hasn’t done a lot of things for a lot of weeks, so it’s too early – but it’s good to have him back on the pitch with the group.”
Reports suggest Dango Ouattara is seeking a move away from the club, with interest from Brentford potentially affecting the versatile player’s chances of starting.
Head-to-Head & Previous Meetings
Liverpool and Bournemouth have met 24 times in all competitions, with the Reds winning 19 of those encounters and drawing three. Bournemouth have only managed two victories, both at the Vitality Stadium.
The most recent meeting came in February 2025, when Mohamed Salah scored twice to secure a 2-1 away win for Liverpool. The Cherries’ last triumph over the Reds was in March 2023, when Phillip Billing’s strike sealed a 1-0 victory.
Key Stats
- Liverpool are unbeaten in their first league game for 12 straight seasons (9 wins, 3 draws).
- This is their first Premier League opener at Anfield since 2020-21; last home opening-day loss was in 2003-04 vs Chelsea.
- As reigning champions, Liverpool have lost only 1 of 19 season openers.
- Only the second time in club history they start a league season on a Friday (first was 2019-20, which ended in a title win).
- Liverpool have won 9 of their last 10 Friday Premier League games.
- Unbeaten in 13 August home league games since 2015 (11 wins, 2 draws).
- Have won 11 of their last 12 league meetings with Bournemouth.
- Bournemouth have taken just 1 point from 8 Premier League visits to Anfield, losing the last 6 with a 23-2 aggregate.
- Bournemouth are unbeaten in their last 7 opening league games (3 wins, 4 draws).
- Alisson could make his 300th Liverpool appearance, the 7th goalkeeper in club history to do so.
- Florian Wirtz was 1 of only 6 players in Europe’s top 5 leagues last season with double-digit goals (10) & assists (12).
- Mohamed Salah has 9 goals & 14 goal involvements on opening weekends — most in Premier League history.
- Salah has scored 105 Premier League goals at Anfield; only Aguero (106) & Henry (114) have more at one venue.
- Salah’s 11 Premier League goals against Bournemouth is the most by any player against them
