Football - Liverpool hammer Bournemouth for seventh straight league win

Liverpool hammered Bournemouth 3-0 on Saturday for their seventh straight win in the Premier League.

Jurgen Klopp made seven changes as he tried to keep his team fresh ahead of the trip to Salzburg on Tuesday.

The game felt like a training exercise for large stretches and Liverpool made all three of their goals look easy. The first came from a lovely ball over the top from Jordan Henderson, which Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain got to first and helped past Aaron Ramsdale on the volley.

Keita scored the second, lifting the ball over Ramsdale after playing a one-two with Mohamed Salah, but the goal was all about Salah’s assist - a gorgeous backheel to put Keita through on goal.

And Keita repaid that favour after the interval, collecting a loose pass inside the Bournemouth half, driving forward and then slipping in Salah, who duly applied the finishing touch.

Liverpool kept a clean sheet for the first time since September and were never troubled at the back as the home team couldn’t muster a single shot on target. The only negative from a Liverpool perspective was Dejan Lovren going off with an injury, but they end the day 11 points clear at the top of the table.

Rotation works a treat for Klopp. The Liverpool boss made seven changes from the team which beat Everton on Wednesday, with James Milner the only player in the front six to retain his place. That's more a reflection of the weakened team Everton faced rather than today’s one being under-strength, but Klopp has demonstrated faith in his players by being so thorough in his rotation and that faith has been vindicated with a couple of impressive wins. With such a commanding lead in the title race, many think fixture congestion catching up with them is the only way Liverpool can lose it from here. This week was their first serious test of that and they have passed with flying colours.

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool). This was the dictionary definition of a routine win and Salah exemplified that with the casual manner in which he set up Keita’s goal and then took his own. He was Liverpool's most potent threat and it felt like he could have caused more damage had it been necessary.

7’ - SAVE! Gomez passes to Salah, who has found a pocket of space in the corner of the box, and the Egyptian then tries to curl one into the top corner. Ramsdale does well to not only save but take the ball cleanly.

32’ - BAD NEWS. Ake makes an excellent sliding tackle to deny Salah a chance, but he looks to have pulled his hamstring in the process and cannot continue.

35’ - GOAL! Bournemouth 0-1 Liverpool (Oxlade-Chamberlain). Liverpool lead and they made it look simple! Henderson sprays a long ball over the top, Oxlande-Chamberlain is there to meet it on the volley and nudges the ball past Ramsdale, who really should have come out sooner.

44’ - GOAL! Bournemouth 0-2 Liverpool (Keita). What a lovely goal! Keita passes to Salah and carries on his run. The Egyptian holds the ball for a second and then picks out Keita with a lovely backheel and Keita lifts the ball over Ramsdale to double Liverpool's lead.

55’ - GOAL! Bournemouth 0-3 Liverpool (Salah). Simpson cheaply gives the ball straight Keita, who in turn plays in Salah, who had run in behind the defence, and Salah coolly finishes to grab his customary goal versus Bournemouth.

Bournemouth: Ramsdale 5, Francis 6, Mepham 5, Ake 7, Rico 4, Danjuma 5, Billing 5, Lerma 5, Fraser 4, Wilson 5, Solanke 4. Subs: Simpson 4, Cook 4, Gosling 5.

Liverpool: Alisson 6, Gomez 7, Lovren 6, Van Dijk 7, Robertson 6, Henderson 6, Milner 6, Keita 7, Oxlade-Chamberlain 7, Firmino 6, Salah 8. Subs: Alexander-Arnold 6, Jones 6, Shaqiri n/a.