Bournemouth halt Liverpool's unbeaten streak and heighten pressure on Slot
Bournemouth brought Liverpool's 13 match unbeaten sequence to an end with Amine Adli's dramatic 95th minute goal clinching a pulsating 3-2 victory for the Cherries on Saturday.
Strikes from Evanilson and Alex Jimenez had the hosts firmly in control, yet Liverpool responded via Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai to draw level.
Still, Bournemouth claimed just their second win in 15 outings when Adli netted with almost the final touch of the match.
This loss will ramp up the examination of Liverpool manager Arne Slot, as the Reds are poised to drop out of the Premier League's top four following Sunday's results.
Slot, who led Liverpool to Premier League success last term, had restored calm after a dismal spell of nine losses in 12 fixtures earlier on.
However, the Dutch coach has faced backlash over Liverpool's lacklustre displays, despite the unbeaten period, and they now sit without a league win in five.
The Reds delivered a strong showing to defeat Marseille 3-0 and edge nearer to the Champions League knockout stages midweek.
Yet they faltered once more against the challenge of piercing a Premier League backline, having conceded twice early to hand the Cherries a 2-0 advantage.
The away team held most of the possession, but suffered for two defensive slips within seven first half minutes.
Van Dijk showed laxity attempting to head Marcos Senesi's lofted pass over the line for a corner, allowing Alex Scott to recover, deliver a cross, and set up Evanilson to smash it in.
While trying to block the score, Joe Gomez suffered an injury, thinning Liverpool's already limited central defensive choices further.
The visitors operated with 10 players as Wataru Endo prepared to enter for Gomez when Bournemouth extended their lead.
Milos Kerkez was caught off guard upon his return to the Vitality Stadium, letting Jimenez slip behind and poke in his debut goal for Bournemouth.
Van Dijk made up for his earlier mistake by powering in a header from Szoboszlai's corner to ignite Liverpool's comeback.
Payoff for bold approach
Andy Robertson came on for Kerkez at the interval, even as rumours linked him to Tottenham before the transfer deadline in little more than a week.
Liverpool had scant reward for their second half possession superiority until Szoboszlai's effort ignited a frenzied conclusion.
The Hungarian had curled a free kick beneath the Marseille barrier on Wednesday, and here he capitalised on Cody Gakpo's lay off to carve space and rifle into the distant corner.
Nearly directly from the restart, Liverpool required Alisson Becker to make an outstanding stop on Ryan Christie to stop Bournemouth from regaining the front.
Evanilson then squandered a prime opportunity to seal it when the Brazilian fired wide with only Alisson left to face.
Bournemouth might have dropped it too, with goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic pulling off a solid denial to keep Florian Wirtz from the near post.
But Andoni Iraola's squad earned their reward for pushing forward when Adli rifled home from a tight angle following Liverpool's failure to deal with a long throw.
The triumph propels Bournemouth to 13th place, 10 points above the drop zone.