Bournemouth 1-2 Liverpool: Sturridge and Firmino cap off great week for the Reds

Liverpool beat Bournemouth 2-1 with goals from Roberto Firmino and Daniel Sturridge, while Josh King was on target for the hosts at the Vitality Stadium.

It was Sturridge’s sixth goal in eight games and he did his Euro 2016 chances no harm with an impressive showing.

But Reds fans will have had their hearts in their mouths at the end as Bournemouth mounted an impressive fightback, with King scoring in stoppage time.

The Reds were much changed, with Firmino the only player keep his place from the team that started against Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League as manager Jurgen Klopp opted for the likes of Sheyi Ojo, Danny Ward and Brad Smith. At the end of the first 45 minutes, neither side was playing badly, but it was Liverpool who had the goals.

In an even game and despite the team changes, Liverpool moved the ball around nicely, as did the hosts, with the deadlock only being broken five minutes before half-time.

Artur Boruc kept Daniel Sturridge’s powerful backheel out, but the ball fell to Firmino for the tap in.

And minutes later, Sturridge headed Jordon Ibe’s free-kick past Boruc and into the goalkeeper’s bottom corner for a 2-0 half-time lead.

Bournemouth had their chances as they worked hard to try and get the better of Lucas in defence, but they were limited to set-piece efforts or long range shots.

Sturridge was twice denied by the woodwork in the second half, but as the game entered the last 15 minutes, it was all Bournemouth.

Ward, who had been a spectator for large parts of the second half in goal, was called into action as King - a bundle of energy - was trying to make things happen.

Then the Welshman kept a Lewis Grabban header out with a superb save before King’s late goal and Steve Cook saw his header land on the roof of the net.