Bournemouth vs. Liverpool: 10 key things to know with quarter-final on the line

October 31, 2023
Joanna Durkan

Liverpool can progress to the quarter-finals of the League Cup with a victory over Bournemouth, which would represent their best campaign in the competition since lifting the trophy in 2022.

Bournemouth vs. Liverpool

League Cup Fourth Round | Vitality Stadium
November 1, 2023 | 7.45pm (GMT)

For the second time this season, Liverpool meet Bournemouth – only this time it is in domestic cup action in the fourth round of the League Cup.

Jurgen Klopp‘s side secured their passage into this round thanks to a 3-1 win over Leicester, while the Cherries had to beat both Swansea and Stoke City.

Whereas the Reds have lost only one match so far this season, Bournemouth have won only three in all competitions.

Here are 10 things you need to know ahead of Wednesday’s kickoff.

1. Jones back from suspension

A three-game suspension that has felt a lot longer than that for Curtis Jones is finally over, he is free to return to domestic action after his red card against Tottenham.

In the time since his red card, he has played 133 minutes across two Europa League games and one would expect to see him involved on the south coast.

Luis Diaz, meanwhile, will be expected to remain at home, understandably, as the search for his father continues in Colombia after being kidnapped on Saturday.

2. Penalties, if required

Thankfully, both you and Klopp will be relieved to know that there will be no extra time if the match ends in a draw.

Instead, a penalty shootout will take place to decide who will progress to the quarter finals – the Reds have won their last four shootouts.

As for the draw for the next round if the Reds progress, it takes place after the match between Man United and Newcastle on Wednesday.

3. Another meeting with an ex-Red

Tyler Adams, Emiliano Marcondes, Ryan Fredericks and goalkeepers Neto and Darren Randolph are all sidelined, as too Lewis Cook, who will serve the second of his three-game suspension.

Neither Mark Travers nor Luis Sinisterra can take part having been involved in the earlier rounds with a different club.

With Neto unavailable, it guarantees back-to-back starts for Inter Milan loanee Ionut Radu in goal, while ex-Red Dominic Solanke will be the key goal threat as the Cherries’ leading scorer with five goals.

Possible Cherries XI: Radu; Smith, Zabarnyi, Mepham, Kerkez; Rothwell, Billing; Ouattara, Semenyo, Christie; Solanke

4. Will we see at least 9 changes?

This would have been the ideal fixture for the likes of Conor Bradley and Stefan Bajcetic, but both remain sidelined due to injury.

Pep Lijnders did confirm that Ben Doak was involved in training on Monday and could be part of the squad after recovering from a muscle injury, which will be a welcome sight.

Another opportunity will be expected to come Luke Chambers‘ way, though, after his full debut against Toulouse, while Caoimhin Kelleher appears a straightforward choice in goal.

Rotation at the back will inject fresh legs, with Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Jarell Quansah, while Cody Gakpo has 56 minutes to his name post-injury and will be in line to start.

Predicted Reds XI: Kelleher; Gomez, Matip, Quansah, Chambers; Endo, Elliott, Jones; Salah, Nunez, Gakpo

5. Liverpool knew Gravenberch was a “special player”

Ryan Gravenberch has made an exciting start to life at Anfield, but that has not surprised Lijnders, who eulogised over the midfielder, who now has a team and coaches with full trust in his abilities:

“We see the Ryan of Ajax and that was already really impressive at that time.

“That is why the cup is so important as well because everybody is playing; a player who doesn’t play a game in two weeks will never get confident.

“We all know that a player with confidence or without confidence is not the same player. I’m not sure what happened at Bayern but not playing and with no confidence…

“Here, he comes with full trust and we knew the potential before because we wanted him back then.

“And we knew that with training, with good conversations, with showing our idea, with the clarity of the whole group, that we had a special player.”

6. Kelleher holds the record

We know Kelleher is pretty good at scoring penalties but he’s more than capable of saving them as well, as he has, in fact, saved more penalties for Liverpool in shootouts (six) than any other Reds ‘keeper in history.

Last season, he three in the win over Derby and in his 10 League Cup appearances for the club he has been a part of and won four shootouts for a 100 percent record.

That’s some going! Now, while we would like for the match to be wrapped up long before penalties come into consideration, at least we can be comforted that we would be in safe hands if they are needed.

7. Not live on UK TV…again

For the second game running, Liverpool will not be shown live on UK television as Sky Sports have instead selected West Ham vs. Arsenal and Man United vs. Newcastle as their live offerings.

But live audio commentary and a full match replay and highlights will be available on LFCTV GO here, and we will also be providing live text commentary throughout on our website.

It does always astound how limited UK viewers are to watching live football in this country.

8. Quarter-finals on the line

Should Liverpool progress to the quarter-final, it will be the fifth time in nine seasons for Klopp at Liverpool.

The last time the Reds were in the final eight was on the way to their ninth League Cup title in 2021/22 – the most of any team in the competition’s history.

Bournemouth, on the other hand, are eyeing a place in the quarter-final for only the fourth time in their history.

And you just know, on the balance of all the draws that have come before, that if Liverpool do progress, they will be facing a Premier League team. At least Man City can’t get an ‘easy’ draw as they’re no longer in the competition.

9. Recent history with this referee

John Brooks is the referee for the trip to the Vitality. If his name sounds familiar, it is because we have had a number of run ins with him.

The most recent of which saw him show a red card to Virgil van Dijk, but he is also the official who Klopp celebrated in the face of last season, and was in charge when Cody Gakpo had studs dragged down his chest against Aston Villa.

There is no VAR, it will only be introduced from the semi-final stage.