Bournemouth is easily defeated by Liverpool, securing five points

 Liverpool surged five points clear at the top of the Premier League with a 4-0 victory over Bournemouth on Sunday, extending their undefeated league record to 14 games.

The visitors were frustrated in a cagey first half with limited scoring opportunities, but they found a higher gear after the interval, with Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota each scoring twice.

Nunez made it 1-0 in the 49th minute after a beautiful passing move sliced through Bournemouth's defence, and the influential Jota put the game out of reach for the hosts with two clinical strikes in the 70th and 79th minutes.

Uruguayan Nunez sealed a strong Liverpool performance with his second goal in stoppage time.

Liverpool has 48 points from 21 games, while champions Manchester City, Arsenal, and Aston Villa have 43 points each. City does have a game in hand over Juergen Klopp's team.

Bournemouth is in 12th place, with 25 points.

Klopp confessed he was disappointed with what he saw in the first half, but was pleased that his team had plenty of firepower despite the absence of leading scorer Mohamed Salah.

"We were not flexible enough in the first half and it was not a good game and I told them at halftime it was not great," Klopp was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.

"In the second half, we changed formation and became much more fluent. After we scored, everything looked different. It's excellent for both Darwin and Diogo."

Bournemouth's Justin Kluivert was engaged in the main first-half action, getting away with a hefty tackle on Luis Diaz and nearly scoring for the hosts.

Liverpool moved Nunez to a more central role after the break, and it quickly paid off. Curtis Jones sent off a long pass to Jota, who found Nunez with a first-time pass, and the finish was never in doubt.

Jota made it 2-0 when Cody Gakpo found him, and the Portuguese scored again with a clever finish after missing his original attempt after being set up by Premier League debutant Conor Bradley, who took his chance in the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Joe Gomez assisted Nunez's volleyed second goal in stoppage time, making him the first Premier League player to have ten goals and ten assists this season.