Liverpool: Alisson, Van Dijk and Isak Set to Start vs Bournemouth

Andoni Iraola will send out a heavily changed Liverpool side at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday, restoring the front-line names rested in midweek for the 3-1 Carabao Cup win over Tottenham.

Alisson Becker returns in goal after sitting out that tie as an unused substitute, with Giorgi Mamardashvili's mixed showing against Spurs handing the gloves straight back. Milos Kerkez lines up at left-back against his former side.

Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai both scored in the cup win, which gives Iraola the option of pushing the Hungary international further forward and restoring the Ryan Gravenberch-Mac Allister double pivot instead. Mac Allister has scored 20 goals since joining Liverpool in August 2023.

Wirtz is set for the number 10 role despite a slow start to his season having drawn criticism, with the Premier League title-winning trio who saw out the Spurs game making way. Alexander Isak is expected to lead the line again after coming off the bench late in midweek, chasing a first goal in four games. Cody Gakpo, who missed the goalless draw with Fulham through injury, returned with a goal and an assist against Spurs and has a goal contribution in all three of his league appearances this season; he may shift to the right to accommodate Bradley Barcola on the left.

Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, Federico Chiesa and Hugo Ekitike remain sidelined, though some are expected back after the international break. Chiesa has scored four times since arriving at Liverpool in May 2025.

Predicted Liverpool XI: Alisson; Araujo, Jacquet, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Gakpo, Wirtz, Barcola; Isak.

A win would keep Liverpool's Premier League form building after a week in which the club has also had to manage the fallout from sporting director Richard Hughes leaving for Al Hilal, with his duties split among senior figures for now.