Liverpool tested by valiant Bournemouth but get Premier League title defence off to winning start | OneFootball

Liverpool’s Premier League title defence began with a breathless 4-2 victory over Bournemouth at Anfield.

New signing Hugo Ekitike made an instant impact on debut. The 23-year-old French forward marked his first league start for the club with a goal and an assist, but the champions were pushed all the way by a stubborn Bournemouth side.The 23-year-old opened the scoring, dropping deep to link up with Alexis Mac Allister before calmly slotting the ball home.

Ekitike continued to impress, and laid off a neat pass for Cody Gakpo to double the lead, who fired low into the bottom corner.

Bournemouth fought back, however, with Antoine Semenyo scoring a brace to make it level.

His first came when he got on the end of a pinpoint David Brooks cross to finish past Alisson. Later, in the second half, he surged from deep inside his own half to hammer home a fine individual effort.

Liverpool restored their advantage late in the game though. Federico Chiesa, introduced as a substitute, reacted quickly to a loose ball from Mohamed Salah’s cross to score his first Premier League goal for the club. Salah himself added a fourth for the champions, rounding off a thrilling 4-2 victory.

While Liverpool’s attack looked sharp, defensive lapses were exposed and they looked vulnerable to counter-attacks, a reminder of why the club invested in more defensive depth in the form of new signing Giovanni Leoni. Still, the opening day win gives the Reds momentum as they kick off their title defence. The reigning may have made hard work of it but in the end, they leave Anfield with a perfect start to their title defence on what has been an emotional night for the club, with tributes for former striker Diogo Jota following his death earlier this summer.