Liverpool, Sep 21 (IANS): Liverpool returned to winning ways in the Premier League with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over AFC Bournemouth at Anfield on Saturday. A quickfire brace from Luis Diaz midway through the first half was added to before the interval by Darwin Nunez as the Reds ensured there would be no repeat of last weekend’s home loss to Nottingham Forest.

The three points lifted Arne Slot’s team, for whom Federico Chiesa made his Anfield bow as a second-half substitute, to the top of the table before Manchester City met with Arsenal on Sunday.

It appeared that Bournemouth had taken an early lead when Antoine Semenyo slid in at the back post to convert Justin Kluivert’s low ball across, but the goal was disallowed for offside following a VAR review.

Midway through the first half, a raking pass by Ibrahima Konate located Diaz, whose intelligent first touch cushioned the ball away from the advancing Kepa on the edge of the area before he calmly applied the finish. And with Anfield still celebrating and Bournemouth reeling, Liverpool struck again immediately.

Trent Alexander-Arnold surged forward from deep and resisted the temptation to pull the trigger from 18 yards, instead slipping a pass into Diaz, who did the rest by slotting in his fifth goal in five Premier League appearances this term.

Slot’s side were in the mood and the Cherries were unable to make it to half-time without suffering further as, eight minutes before the break, Nunez notched the third goal which put the game to bed early.

"Obviously, coming off a good performance in Milan, it was important to keep going, not be satisfied and obviously in the first half three good goals. We could have scored more, in my opinion, maybe should have. But Bournemouth are still a very good team and they created some difficult moments and we had to fight. Overall, very happy with the clean sheet, 3-0, and now we focus on the Carabao Cup,” said club captain Virgil Van Dijk to the LFC Media team.