Liverpool 4-2 Bournemouth Highlights, Premier League: Chiesa, Salah Rescue Reds Win After Semenyo Heroics

Hello, football fans! Welcome to the start of our live coverage of the English Premier League 2025-26 opener, with defending champions Liverpool taking on Bournemouth at Anfield. The action starts at 12:30 AM IST, so stay tuned for pre-match updates and lineups as they are released.

The English Premier League 2025-26 matches, including Liverpool vs Bournemouth, will be live-streamed in India on the JioHotstar app and website. TV broadcasts will take place on Star Sports Select 1 and Star Sports Select HD1.

You can follow the live score of the Liverpool vs Bournemouth match on Outlook India.

Alisson Becker (gk); Milos Kerkez, Virgil van Dijk (c), Ibrahima Konate, Jeremie Frimpong; Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai; Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz, Mohamed Salah; Hugo Ekitike

Djordje Petrovic (gk); Adrien Truffert, Marcos Senesi, Bafode Diakite, Adam Smith (c); Alex Scott, Tyler Adams; Antoine Semenyo, Marcus Tavernier, David Brooks; Evanilson

As per Google, the win probabilities are:

• Liverpool: 73%

• Draw: 15%

• Bournemouth: 12%

Liverpool: 🔴L 🟢W 🟢W 🟢W ⚫D

Bournemouth: 🟢W 🟢W 🔴L 🔴L ⚫D

Italian defender Giovanni Leoni, who was signed by Liverpool from Parma for €35M, is cheering on his new side at Anfield today.

• Liverpool 3-0 Bournemouth (21 September 2024)

• Bournemouth 0-2 Liverpool (1 February 2025)

A belting rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone by Anfield fans, followed by a minute of silence in honour of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva. It’s an emotional environment in the stadium, and the mood is set for the Premier League opener.

Referee Anthony Taylor blows his whistle, and the match is underway! The Premier League 2025-26 season has begun, folks!

Patient build-up from Liverpool, but it all comes to an end as Ekitike has a shot from distance that is straight at the goalkeeper. The Frenchman was caught in two minds whether to go for placement or power, and in the end, the shot had neither. The Reds dominate posession.

Mohamed Salah, ooooh! The Egyptian almost opened the league season with a worldie, cutting inside from the right and having a shot with his right. Petrovic was alert and was at full stretch to tip it behind.

A brilliant match so far, with both sides throwing caution to the wind in the early stages. Liverpool had a chance to break, with the ball being played towards Ekitike. Senesi did well to clear, but Liverpool were adamant that the Argentine had handled the ball.

Replays showed that the ball had bounced from his thighs to his fingers, but Anthony Taylor is not impressed. Arne Slot, as you can imagine, does not agree with the referee.

Massive round of applause across the stadium in the 20th minute in honour of Diogo Jota. On the pitch though, tempers are slightly flaring in the odd moments, with Arne Slot claiming that a Bournemouth player had dived when Szoboszlai was called back for a foul.

The hosts have more than 60% of posession, but both sides have had their fair share of chances in the opening 20 minutes.

Ekitike's movement has been a source of problem for the Bournemouth defenders, and the Frenchman almost got ahead of his marker after Frimpong tried to play him on. However, Diakite, who joined the Cherries on Wednesday, pokes it behind for a corner.

Anthony Taylor goes to the touchline and has an extended discussion with both managers. Not sure what it's about, but both sets of players get some refreshments in the meantime.

As per details coming in from the match, the lengthy discussion was about an alleged racist comment aimed at Semenyo that was reported to Anthony Taylor. It's a shame, really, that an excellent match is ruined by such an incident.

Taylor pats Semenyo on the back, and the match resumes.

Best chance of the game so far? For Bournemouth, surely, as Smith did well to cross the ball into the right. It fell to Tavarnier, who seemed perplexed about what to do, and ends up having a tame shot that Alisson gathered easily. Can the Cherries afford to pass up such opportunities in a fixture like this?

Welcome to the Premier League, Hugo Ekitike! The Frenchman gets a return pass from Mac Allister, and then tried to get past Senesi. The Liverpool man gets lucky as the ball ricochets off the Argentine's leg, and Ekitike makes no mistake with the finish, finding the far corner past Petrovic.

Ekitike almost had two goals in two minutes, as he outjumped everyone in the box to get a header towards goal, but the power is too much for him to control and it goes over the bar. Who even needs Isak, really?

Kerkez is evidently fired up, facing his old side for the first time, but the Liverpool full back was late in his challenge on Smith and immediately gets booked by Anthony Taylor. Robertson is warming up on the touchline.

The fourth official indicates a minimum of three minutes to be added on at the end of the regulation time.

Anthony Taylor blows for half-time, and what a half of football it has been. It has been end-to-end action, really, but it's the fox in the box Hugo Ekitike whose attacking impetus resulted in the only goal of the half so far.

Anthony Taylor blows his whistle, and Bournemouth get the second half underway. A bit of statistic from Peter Drury: the last time Liverpool lots a Premier League match that they led at half time was back in 2009. A mountain to climb for the Cherries.

Liverpool double their advantage early on. Ekitike does well to hold on to the ball before feeding it to Gakpo. The Dutchman cuts inside; his first-touch is heavy but he controls the ball with his right before finishing past Petrovic to find the right corner.

Liverpool are turning on the screws at the moment, with Alexis Mac Allister having a powerful shot towards the far corner on a half-turn. It's goalbound, and Petrovic has to be at full-stretch to tip it over the bar.

A double change for Liverpool, with new signing Kerkez coming off for Andy Robertson. Wataru Endo replaces right-back Jeremie Frimpong in his 50th appearance for Liverpool. The Anfield crowd are enjoying the occassion.

Another one of Liverpool's new signings, Florian Wirtz, almost scored the third. Szoboszlai rolled the ball into the German's path. Wirtz had an instinctive first-time shot, and it goes inches wide of the left post.

Game on!! A brilliant pass from the midfield frees David Brooks down the left flank, and the Welsh winger runs with it before crossing it across the face of the goal. Semenyo, who made a late run into the box, is right in position to finish it past Alisson.

The game has opened up since Bournemouth's goal. Gakpo has a tame effort from outside the box straight at Petrovic, but it's the visitors who look dangerous every time they push forward in numbers. An excellent advertisement of English football, this.

Tavernier and Brooks combined well in the box, and the Welshman's shot is blocked by Van Dijk. Liverpool's defence is not looking comfortableat the moment, and Slot responds by bringing on an extra defender in Joe Gomez, who replaces Ekitike. Curtis Jones comes on for Alexis Mac Allister.

Oooooh! Bournemouth are level, and it's Antoine Semenyo again! It all came from Hamed Traore winning the ball from a Liverpool corner before feeding the Ghana forward. Semenyo had acres of space ahead, and ran with the ball from his own half.

Not a single Liverpool defender made an challenge on him, and his shot from the edge of the box found the right corner, with Alisson rooted in his spot.

Wirtz' Premier League debut is over, as the German comes off for Liverpool's forgotten man Federico Chiesa. A chance for the Italian forward to get some minutes and impress Arne Slot tonight.

What a time to score your first-ever Premier League goal for Federico Chiesa! Salah's ball into the box is almost turned in by Jones, and Bournemouth fail to clear the ball properly. It falls to Chiesa in the box, and the Italian finds the bottom right corner with a sensational finish. Liverpool take the lead again!

Six minutes of additional time to be played at the end of the ninety. Meanwhile, the Cherries make a change, with Smith coming off for James Hill.

Well, that's game set and match for Liverpool, and who better to score what is the nail in the coffin for Bournemouth than Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian picks up a long ball and then cuts inside before shooting with his weaker right foot. The shot is anything but weak, though, giving Petrovic no chance.

Anthony Taylor blows the full-time whistle, and that's that at Anfield. What an opening-day match, and Liverpool's title defence is off to a perfect start. Despite new-signing Ekitike and Mo Salah finding the back of the net, it's Fede Chiesa who is the hero for the Reds today, scoring his first Premier League goal after a horrible debut season last year. It ends Liverpool four, Bournemouth two.