Two Reds stood out above the rest as Liverpool cruised to a 3-0 win at Bournemouth, where Naby Keita earned plenty of praise.
Jurgen Klopp‘s Reds forewent the recent dramatics on Saturday and instead experienced a comfortable afternoon on the south coast.
After a relatively slow start, Liverpool burst into life late in the first half with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita putting the finishing touches on two stunning passages of play.
Mohamed Salah would add a third early in the second 45, with the Reds going on to assert their dominance and see out proceedings without cause for concern.
The result secured the first clean sheet in 14 games and increased the Reds’ lead atop of the Premier League table to 11 points ahead of Leicester‘s game at Aston Villa on Sunday.
Here we compare our player ratings with those from the Liverpool Echo, Sky Sports, WhoScored, ESPN, FotMob and the TIA readers.
After marking his first Premier League start of the season with a goal, Keita (8.6) notched the highest average rating from the starting XI.
TIA‘s Ben Twelves named the Guinean as his Man of the Match, lavishing praise on “Liverpool’s chief playmaker” who now “looks ready to launch his Anfield career.”
“Always keen to move the ball forward and run with it” and the “super pass [which] assisted Salah’s strike” was all praised by the Liverpool Echo‘s Ian Doyle.
Meanwhile, the provider for Keita’s goal and the man on the end of his second-half delivery, Salah (8.3) had a similarly eye catching performance in the eyes of the media.
The Egyptian’s “sumptuous backheel” was duly lauded by ESPN‘s James Capps, while the This Is Anfield readers viewed Liverpool’s No. 11 as the top performer with an 8.5 rating.
Jordan Henderson (7.9) capped of the Reds’ top three, with the Echo’s 9 rating boosting his average having “rarely wasted a pass.”
Virgil van Dijk (7.5) was considered the most impressive performer in defence, with Twelves stating that the Dutchman “didn’t put a foot wrong.”
Moreover, James Milner (7.4) and Joe Gomez (7.2) were next in line after proving to be reliable figures in midfield and defence respectively.
The Reds will now turn their attention to European action where a win or draw at Salzburg will seal their passage to the last 16 of the Champions League.
And while Klopp provided a positive update on his prognosis after the game, Dejan Lovren (6.3), who was the joint lowest-rated player against the Cherries, could be forced to sit out as the club err of the side of caution.
The centre-back was withdrawn with 40 minutes on the clock which Klopp claimed was due to “a little cramp,” and with a relentless schedule, which sees Liverpool play eight games in 23 days, the Reds can ill afford an injury to Lovren with Joel Matip still on the sidelines.
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