Liverpool vs Bournemouth Prediction: Reigning champions to start strong

Reigning Premier League champions Liverpool get the 2025/26 campaign underway on Friday (20:00 BST, Sky Sports Main Event) against AFC Bournemouth, who, last season, achieved their best-ever points haul (56) in the competition and equalled their highest top-flight finish (ninth).

Below are my Liverpool vs Bournemouth predictions, complete with all the latest team news and match odds, ahead of this opening-day fixture.

Team News

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot is only expected to make one change to the starting XI that lined up against Crystal Palace in last Sunday's Community Shield, which the Reds lost on penalties after a 2-2 draw in regulation time.

Alexis Mac Allister began on the bench at Wembley after only featuring in two pre-season friendlies, just one of which he started. The Argentine should slot into the midfield alongside Dominik Szoboszlai on Friday, though, in place of Curtis Jones.

Premier League Odds

Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike all made their competitive Liverpool debuts last Sunday, and the quartet are set to make their league bows for the Reds as starters against Bournemouth.

Ryan Gravenberch (suspended) and Conor Bradley (muscle) are ruled out for the hosts, while Joe Gomez has only resumed training this week following an Achilles injury, so this match is likely to come too soon for the 28-year-old, although Slot has suggested there is a chance he could make the bench.

Bournemouth lost four-fifths of their defence in the summer, with Kerkez (Liverpool), Dean Huijsen (Real Madrid) and Illia Zabarnyi (Paris Saint-Germain) all sold, and goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga heading back to his parent club, Chelsea, before being sold to Arsenal.

Another Chelsea shot-stopper, Djordje Petrovic, has made the move to the South Coast, but unlike Kepa, the Serbian has joined on a permanent deal.

Adrien Truffert, meanwhile, has joined from Stade Rennais to replace Kerkez at left-back.

Today's Football Fixtures

With last season's centre-back stars Zabarnyi and Huijsen gone, expect Marcos Senesi to be joined in the middle of defence by James Hill for Friday's game, allowing new signing Bafode Diakite, who only joined from Lille OSC on Wednesday, time to find his feet.

Lewis Cook and Enes Unal (knee) are out injured for the Cherries, whose bench has been strengthened by the returns from loan of Alex Paulsen, Hamed Junior Traore, Philip Billing and Eli Junior Kroupi.

Liverpool vs Bournemouth Odds

Liverpool are 3/10 (76.9%) to get off to a winning start in the Premier League, with Bournemouth 9/1 (10%) and the draw 5/1 (16.7%)

Last season's Golden Boot winner, Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), heads the anytime (7/10) and first (3/1) goalscorer markets. Ekitike (5/6), who opened the scoring in the Community Shield, and Wirtz (11/8) are next up in the anytime market, with Kroupi (3/1) and Evanilson (16/5) first in line for the visitors.

Match Result & Both Teams to Score - Liverpool & Yes @ 7/5

Liverpool romped to the Premier League title last season, and the Reds are highly-fancied to retain their trophy, despite a summer of change at Anfield.

The club have had to deal with the tragic passing of popular Portuguese forward Diogo Jota, while first-team regulars Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez are among those to have left for pastures new.

Big money has been spent on replacements, though, with Wirtz and Ekitike the headline additions.

There's more work to be done for the Liverpool recruitment team, with another forward and at least one more defender required, but it already looks like they have improved the starting XI and squad, rather than weakened it.

Slot's side have been handed a favourable first game of the season against Bournemouth, who have suffered a defensive exodus, and failed to win any of their last four friendlies, scoring just twice.

Liverpool have won the last five head-to-heads, including both games under Slot last season, 3-0 at home and 2-0 at Vitality Stadium.

Still, despite the scorelines suggesting comfortable Liverpool wins, they were far from it.

The Cherries recorded 19 shots and seven on target at Anfield last September, albeit the hosts were three goals to the good after 37 minutes, while Andoni Iraola's side made their opponents work on the South Coast, where a Salah spot-kick opened the scoring, and it took another 45 minutes for the Egyptian ace to double their lead.

Bournemouth have experienced a raft of defensive departures this summer, but they've not been depleted in the forward areas, with Antoine Semenyo, Justin Kluivert and Evanilson, who all got into double figures in the league last season, set to start in attack on Friday.

They failed to plot a way past Liverpool's back line home or away in 2024/25, but may find some joy this week, given it's the opening game.

The Reds failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their five pre-season friendlies and were undone twice by Palace last weekend, with Virgil van Dijk showing some rustiness by conceding a penalty. They could get caught on in behind on Friday, but ultimately, they should go on to pick up all three points, with Salah, Wirtz and Ekitike proving too much for a newly-assembled Cherries defence.

Player Shots on Target - Antoine Semenyo (BOU) 2+ @ 7/2

Semenyo only missed one Premier League game last season, starting 36 of his 37 appearances and scoring 11 goals.

The 25-year-old averaged 3.4 shots per game and 1.1 shots on target per game, with both statistics boosted by his numbers against Liverpool.

At Anfield, Semenyo shot four times, forcing two saves from back-up Reds goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, who has since moved to Brentford.

In the return fixture, the Ghana international recorded six attempts at goal, with two hitting the target - both rebuffed by Alisson Becker in the Reds' net.

Liverpool conceded four shots on target against Palace last Sunday, and there are vulnerabilities in their back line that Friday's visitors can take advantage of.

At 7/2, Semenyo is well-priced to register a couple of shots on target.

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