Isak Breaks Bournemouth Resistance as Liverpool Climb to Sixth

BOURNEMOUTH, England — Liverpool left the Vitality Stadium with a 1-0 victory over Bournemouth on Sunday after Alexander Isak scored in the second half. The result moved Liverpool into sixth place in the Premier League and gave them consecutive away wins in league competition.

Liverpool made three changes after an 8-day break that followed a 0-0 draw against Fulham. Cody Gakpo, Milos Kerkez, and Alexis Mac Allister entered the starting side for Ryan Gravenberch, Victor Munoz, and Kostas Tsimikas. Defender Conor Bradley, defender Giovanni Leoni (knee), forward Federico Chiesa (muscle), and forward Hugo Ekitike (Achilles) remained unavailable.

Andoni Iraola, who guided Bournemouth to European football last season before taking charge at Liverpool, returned to the Vitality Stadium for the match. His side ended the scoreless stalemate in the 57th minute when Gakpo beat his defender on the right wing and supplied Isak, who finished past Bournemouth goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.

The fixture was the first occasion since March 2015 that a Liverpool manager had faced a former Premier League club. Brendan Rodgers won 1-0 at Swansea City in that match, while Liverpool managers have remained undefeated in their last seven meetings with former clubs, recording six wins and two draws.

Bournemouth had opportunities on either side of halftime. Petrovic saved an effort from Liverpool’s Bradley Barcola in the opening half, and Bournemouth winger Ryan Christie sent a shot wide early in the second period. Before kickoff, Bournemouth had led the Premier League for shots on target this season with 24, averaging six per game under Rose, the highest figure achieved under any of the five managers who have directed the Cherries in top-flight history.

Liverpool’s clean sheet was their third in a row in the Premier League, their first run of three straight shutouts in top-flight play since four consecutive clean sheets between May and September 2024. Before the current streak, they had recorded only one clean sheet in their previous 13 league matches combined. Liverpool had also drawn three of their first four league matches, alongside one win, their highest frequency of early-season draws since 2005-06.

For Bournemouth head coach Marco Rose, the defeat extended the club’s winless opening run to five matches in the current top-flight season. Bournemouth’s longest winless start to a Premier League campaign came in 2023-24, when the club failed to win any of its first nine games under Iraola.

Bournemouth has lost 15 of its 19 Premier League meetings with Liverpool, winning three and drawing one. Each of Bournemouth’s three victories came at the Vitality Stadium: a 4-3 result in December 2016, a 1-0 win in March 2023, and a 3-2 victory in January 2026. Liverpool had scored in 18 of the 19 Premier League meetings between the teams, with 54 goals in 18 matches for an average of three per game before Sunday’s contest.

Marcus Tavernier arrived having scored four times in his previous six league appearances, but the Bournemouth midfielder had lost all six of his career appearances against Liverpool by a combined score of 23-2.

Bournemouth made one change from their previous squad, with Christie replacing Justin Kluivert in the starting eleven. Their lineup was Djordje Petrovic, Adam Smith, James Hill, Antonio Silva, Adrien Truffert, Rayan, Tyler Adams, Ryan Christie, Alex Scott, Marcus Tavernier, and Evanilson. The substitutes were Michele Di Gregorio, Lewis Cook, Julio Soler, David Brooks, Ben Gannon-Doak, Bafode Diakite, Juanlu Sanchez, Alex Toth, and Daniel Jebbison.

Liverpool started with Alisson Becker, Ronald Araujo, Virgil van Dijk, Jeremy Jacquet, Milos Kerkez, Bradley Barcola, Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo, and Alexander Isak. Their substitutes were Giorgi Mamardashvili, Joe Gomez, Kostas Tsimikas, Víctor Munoz, Jeremie Frimpong, Ryan Gravenberch, Trey Nyoni, Lewis Koumas, and Rio Ngumoha.

The match began at 14:00 BST (9:00 a.m. ET / 6:00 a.m. PT). In the United Kingdom, Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Ultra carried live coverage, with online streaming available through Sky Go and NOW TV.