Liverpool overcome Bournemouth 4-2 in Premier League 2025-26 opener: Stats
What's the story
The Premier League 2025-26 season opener saw Liverpool beat Bournemouth 4-2 at Anfield. The match was interrupted due to an incident of alleged racial abuse. Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo reported being racially abused by a spectator in the crowd. Referee Anthony Taylor halted play during a Liverpool corner in the 29th minute to address both managers on the touchline. The match resumed four minutes later. Thereafter, new signing Hugo Ekitike scored to hand Liverpool the lead. The match opened up in the 2nd half as the Reds prevailed in the end.
Match resumption
Match resumed after 4 minutes
After the incident, Liverpool and Bournemouth captains Virgil van Dijk and Adam Smith were called over to the benches for a briefing. An anti-discrimination message was read out to the crowd inside Anfield after half-time, emphasizing the Premier League's commitment to combating discrimination in football. The fan who made the abuse was also dealt with by the officials.
Official response
Premier League released a statement
The Premier League Match Centre issued a statement on X, confirming that today's match between Liverpool and Bournemouth was temporarily halted due to a report of discriminatory abuse directed at Semenyo. The league said this was in line with their on-field anti-discrimination protocol and promised a full investigation into the incident at Anfield. "Racism has no place in our game, or anywhere in society," they added.
Stats
A look at the match stats
Liverpool had 10 shots on target from 19 attempts. The Cherries had three shots on target from 10 attempts. Liverpool had 61% ball possession and an 83% pass accuracy. The Reds had 2.15 expected goals with Bournemouth's tally of 1.63. Arne Slot's men had 35 touches in the opposition box with the Cherries making 28 such touches. Liverpool have picked three vital points and own a goal difference of +2.
Goals
Bournemouth see two late goals hurt their cause
The 37th minute of the contest saw Alexis Mac Allister find Ekitike in a pocket of space and the new Liverpool man was solid in front of goal. 4 minutes into the 2nd half, Cody Gakpo saw Ekitike set him up and he made it 2-0. Bournemouth then fought back and made it 2-2. Semenyo scored a quickfire double. Slot made key substitutions and that helped the Reds. Federico Chiesa (88') made it 3-2 with a volley before Mohamed Salah added a fourth (90+4').
Ekitike
Ekitike makes his presence felt
As per Squawka, Ekitike is the first ever Frenchman to score and assist on his Premier League debut. He is also just the second Liverpool player to score and assist on his Premier League debut after Darwin Nunez He had 34 touches, including 4 touches in opposition box. He had 4 shots with two of them on target. He created two chances and won 4/5 aerial duels. This is his 2nd goal in Liverpool colors. He scored in the FA Community Shield as well.
Information
42 goals in Liverpool colors for Gakpo
Playing his 130th match for the Reds, Gakpo now owns 42 goals. In 92 Premier League matches, Gakpo has raced to 26 goals. Notably, he managed 10 Premier League goals last season.
Salah
Salah goes level with Andy Cole
In 403 matches for Liverpool in all competitions, Salah owns 246 goals (110 assists). Salah has amassed 187 goals in the Premier League, equaling the legendary Andy Cole and becoming the joint fourth-highest scorer. Notably, 185 of his Premier League goals have come for Liverpool. Another two were for his former side Chelsea. In addition to 187 goals, Salah owns 87 assists as well.
Records
Salah makes these Premier League records
As per Opta, Salah has become the first player to score 10 Premier League goals on matchday 1 in the competition's history. He also has the most combined goals and assists (15) on MD1. The Egyptian has now scored 12 or more Premier League goals against three different sides: Manchester United (13), Tottenham (12) and Bournemouth (12).
More records
Salah equals Giggs and Aguero with these records
Salah now owns 271 goal involvements in the Premier League for Liverpool from 289 matches. He has gone level with Ryan Giggs, who managed 271 goal involvements for Manchester United. Only Wayne Rooney (276) has more for a single club in the competition's history. Salah scored his 106th Premier League goal at Anfield. He has equalled Sergio Aguero in terms of goals scored at a single venue. Aguero scored 106 goals at the Etihad.
Player stats
Key records for VVD, Chiesa and Alisson
As per Opta, Virgil van Dijk made 17 clearances against Bournemouth, 13 of which were headed clearances. Notably, both were his most in a single Premier League game for Liverpool, on what was his 235th such appearance. With his first Premier League goal, Chiesa scored Liverpool's latest ever MD1 winning goal in the competition (87:46). Alisson Becker made his 300th appearance for Liverpool in all competitions.
Do you know?
Semenyo attains this feat for the Cherries
Semenyo is now the first visiting player to score a brace at Anfield in the Premier League since September 2022 (Leandro Trossard's hat-trick for Brighton). The player has 24 goals for Bournemouth, including 22 in the Premier League.
Opta stats
Liverpool maintain their brilliant start
Liverpool have won 12 of their last 13 Premier League matches against the Cherries, who have taken one point from a possible 27 away at Anfield. For the 13th successive season, Liverpool have not lost their opening game of a Premier League campaign (W10 D3). After going unbeaten on matchday 1 in seven successive league campaigns, Bournemouth have finally lost.
Twitter Post
4-2!
We are so back. pic.twitter.com/CGfAj5NVc5
— Premier League (@premierleague) August 15, 2025
Jota
Anfield pays tribute to the late Diogo Jota
Anfield paid tributes to the late Diogo Jota. The forward had lost his life alongside brother Andre Silva in a car accident in early July. He was honored with the Reds manager Slot calling the commemorations "truly special" and supporters singing his song throughout. Liverpool players sported black armbands. After the match, Salah was seen in tears as the fans sung Jota's name. It was an emotional affair at Anfield.
Twitter Post
Salah in tears!
Mohamed Salah dedicates his goal and celebration to Diogo Jota ❤️ pic.twitter.com/BB63k4QFkG
— Premier League (@premierleague) August 15, 2025