Joshua King scored a dramatic late equaliser for Bournemouth as Liverpool dropped two crucial points at Anfield. The Cherries took a surprise lead when Benik Afobe pounced on Georginio Wijnaldum's poor back-pass before rounding Simon Mignolet to score. The visitors went close through Marc Pugh's volley and King before Philippe Coutinho equalised after Roberto Firmino's pass. Divock Origi headed Liverpool ahead but King struck four minutes from the end of normal time from close range. Liverpool remains third in the table, two points ahead of fourth-placed Manchester City, who have a game in hand. At one stage on Wednesday, Jurgen Klopp's side were level on points with second-placed Tottenham only to finish the night five points behind Spurs, who scored three late goals to beat Swansea 3-1.
The Reds had come from behind to take the lead against a well organized Bournemouth team but there was disappointment at the final whistle as Liverpool once again failed to register a win against a team from the bottom half of the table. Wijnaldum's dreadful back-pass gifted the Cherries their first goal at Anfield since 1968 before Coutinho's composed finish after a lovely pass by his fellow Brazilian Firmino. Wijnaldum made up for his error to set up Origi to head Liverpool's second in front of The Kop but Klopp's side paid the price for failing to see the game out. King, who had gone close to making it 2-0 after a powerful run, was allowed to wiggle free inside the Liverpool box to plant the equaliser.
Liverpool's record against the Premier League's top six this season is well documented - unbeaten in 10 games and five wins. Yet their last six league defeats have come against teams in the bottom half of the table. Although they have equalled last season's points tally with seven games remaining, this result will feel like a defeat for a team looking to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 2014. Liverpool has lost against Burnley, Bournemouth, Swansea City, Hull City and Leicester City this season, while they also dropped points at bottom club Sunderland. This will go down as another missed opportunity.
